The Sealed Ability Card
by Aero'Phoenix
Summary: What if Bakugan had never meant to be just a game? What if humans were meant to experience something deeper than a bond? Watch as Dan stumbles upon the one card that will change everything. Rated M for future graphic scenes.
1. Unlikely Encounters

**Author: **Aero'Phoenix

**Rating: **M-rated

**Warning: **Language, Violence e.t.c

**Author Notes: I love these notes you know, they take off all the tension from having to write some cool stuff. Oh yeah and not to sound like I'm blabbering or anything, there is a point to this… Being that this is my first fiction 'story' in general and to be quite honest, I'm only doing this as a means to correct all the horrific mistakes and gaps Bakugan's plot constantly seem to throw in. **

**On a side note, I notice that there isn't really that much of a fan base in this section as Bakugan's plot was in all honesty(Which is what I'm known for), messed up. But hey! I wouldn't be making this if I didn't see the potential in the characters I could work with now would I? Now on with the story!... **

**Also note that the chapters are being rewritten in order to make things more understandable for the audience. Read and Reiview!**

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Bakugan… If I did, then Dan and Runo would've gotten together a looooooooooooong time ago!

**Chapter 1- Unlikely Encounters**

**. . .**

**Between Worlds- Vestroia**

A tense silence had hung around the six entities, causing internal debates to take place within the depths of their sanity at the recent disturbance revolving around what had reluctantly brought them all together, once again.

Something none of them were all too fond of.

The disturbance being the cause to one of the most illustrious worlds to ever exist, one that was comprised of mythical creatures gradually departing from a realm that was falling apart.

Vestroia.

These mythical creatures were known as Bakugan.

Due to this disturbance, they were never to return without a means for transportation. Transportation that they, unfortunately, didn't have.

This was due to a source recently generating an immense amount of power by a means unknown.

The power generated came from something known to many as infinite, yet its true origin and whereabouts were known only to a select few who still admitted to knowing little to nothing about its past, let alone how it was created.

No one, not even Frosch, had dared to mutter a single syllable as questioning stares and glances filtered the space around them. They found that they could only murmur and mutter incoherent babbles and grunts of distress at the source of their concerns.

The source being…

The Infinity and Silent core…

"We have a problem…"

The Lord of Pyrus-space, Apollonir, gazed tensely at the audience around, his stance rigid at the thought of the dire future to come. "A problem that could endanger the very lives of the Bakugan we were entrusted to protect."

They all knew that the two cores were the only things that had the power to shake them to such a grave extent, which was rare due to the fact that they themselves, the Legendary six Lords of Vestroia, were of immense power. Power so immeasurable in fact, that it contributed to their incredibly long life span.

"I believe we already know of what is to come if we do not act quickly." Spoke the rather gentle yet stern voice of the Haos Lord, Lars Lion.

"The repercussions would be devastating." Agreed Frosch, being the oldest out of the bunch, which also earned him the esteemed title of the most-wisest among them as well. The Aquas Lord's tone gave off a sense of foreboding in his next statement, "The lives of not only the Bakugan but also that of the humans would be at risk."

"My only concern revolves around my fellow Bakugan." Spat the Lord of Darkus-space, Exedra. "Those humans could be left to perish for all I care."

Lars eyes widened at the outburst whilst Apollonir's darkened in what appeared to be rage. "Need I remind you that we, the legendary Lords of Vestroia, are the guardians of all Bakugan and as such should protect them, even if it means accepting those who choose to bond with 'those' humans, Exedra." He growled the last part acidly.

Exedra caught onto the venom in Apollonir's tone and glared fiercely. "And in what way does that involve **us** protecting these meekly humans?"

Apollonir's lips parted to snarl at the stubborn Bakugan before Clayf decided to interject, thus stopping the potential conflict the two Lords would find themselves willing to partake in.

"It is quite simple, Exedra. As we speak, the humans are engaged in a 'game' which utilizes the Bakugan as a means for battle. This at first glance could be seen as cruelty towards the Bakugan if not for the fact that the dimension they warp into apparently heals all injuries inflicted after the battle. That and the fact that the Bakugan are willing to partake in these battles for reasons unknown, though this does seem to prove that they are willing to go through that pain in order to bond with these humans."

It seemed that he had the undivided attention of all the Lords present so he moved to continue. "Now seeing as it is the choice of the Bakugan to live such a life, it only leaves us with the conclusion that there is somewhat potential within these humans. Potential that the Bakugan clearly see, which leads me to believe that if at some point we want to stand any chance at stopping the oncoming threat the cores pose… then we will need the help of these humans."

An immediate silence filled the room. Exedra could only stare blankly at the Lord of Subterra before suddenly bursting out in laughter, mocking the now infuriated Clayf.

"How foolish of you all! To believe that a simple card game would bring about an end to our problems! What made you all, in your right minds believe, that the enemy would just standby and wait patiently for a human to invoke the abilities of a Bakugan through the use of these magical cards that would ultimately lead to its demise?" Apollonir prepared to retort before feeling a slender hand place itself onto his clenched fist. He looked up into the calm eyes of Lars which had the desired effect of easing his nerves.

Exedra sneered when the Pyrus Lord's eyes reluctantly turned back to regard him, allowing him to continue. "Now let me ask you this, my fellow brethren. Would it not be simpler to, oh I don't know, disobey the rules of this **game** and kill off the source of the Bakugan's manipulated power, in other words, these humans?"

Once again, a collective silence ate at the room, causing the Darkus Lord to grin smugly as those around him seeming to finally understand the weight of his words. "Having made my point clear, I suggest we-"

"I have a proposal." Apollonir interrupted, much to Exedra's displeasure, "One that would likely be able to fix that glitch."

There was a pause, which then led to a few silent moments.

"You do?"

Apollonir turned to regard Oberus, the Ventus Lord's inquiry. He noticed the curiosity within his eyes as he finally made a move to speak.

"Yes." Apollonir answered. "Yet…"

Oberus's eyes flashed with something reminiscent to appraise at Apollonir's withdrawal. He quickly hid his surfacing doubt, wanting to give his comrade a chance at convincing the others present.

"If executed incorrectly… It may also come at a grave risk. That risk being the death of both humans and Bakugan alike. Now before you come raining down on me with retorts, I'd like to add that this is the only way for us to defend the Bakugan without having to physically get involved. Something I'm sure most of you understand that cannot afford to happen as there are consequences to such actions…"

The group grew silent at the Pyrus Lord's grim words. They understood the consequences as none could afford for a time as such to come to that, yet it still left room for doubt as most found it hard to make a choice.

Lars, along with Clayf, felt a shimmer of hope at the idea.

Frosch, along with Oberus, felt somewhat reluctant to the proposal yet understood that Apollonir would only take such risks if in fact, it was the best shot they had at surviving.

Exedra could only curse as he felt that this was a waste of time. He found himself listening in though, if only to prove how this all would blow up in their faces.

Apollonir eyed the other Lords before him. Sucking in a quick breath, he exhaled heavily, closing his eyes momentarily before slowly letting them open to reveal a stare filled with resolve.

"I propose… We form a Seal."

…

An alarm clock could be heard ringing, followed off by a sluggish groan that came out muffled due its current source being wrapped around in a tangled bunch of large sheets covering the bed.

'It's Monday already? Just my luck…'

A hand shot out to grab the pestering alarm before proceeding to send it crashing against the wall near the computer.

A boy with auburn hair let out a content sigh as he began removing the tangled layers of sheets around him. He jumped out of bed to stretch out his arms. "I still can't believe it's Monday! Man does this bite."

He then walked up to his computer, yawning while pressing the on button of the monitor case. He found himself waiting for the desktop screen's flash to appear. 'Okay, let's check out how high my ranking number is.'

After a few seconds went by, the desktop flashed on followed off by the cheesy windows music that signified that he could now use his computer. The first thing he did was go online to check out the Bakugan site for his rank number on the brawler list. He gaped at what he saw.

'120! Talk about kicking it up a notch!'

An ear splitting grin made its way onto his face as he pumped his fist into the air. "Wait until the guys get a load of this."

A Window suddenly pop up the screen, much to the boy's displeasure as it blocked out the list of rankings he was so immersed in checking out.

"Well guess who decided to wake up on a Monday morning, what's up Dan? Alarm clock got you whipped? "

Said boy paused to take in the features of the girl in front of him as he was eyeing the desktop curiously; she had light blue hair that was tied up in two pony tails while having a yellow tank top shirt on, her skin was light, close to being pale even. Dan noticed that the lower line of clothing she had on couldn't be seen due to the camera being set in line with her face.

This girl was none other than Runo Misaki.

He quirked an eyebrow, "… Runo?"

She smiled smugly. "The one and only."

Dan seemed to recover from his momentary lapse as he then glared at her. "Runo! Get your stinking pop up outta my face! I'm try'na check out the world rankings over here!"

Runo kept his glare with just as much enthusiasm. "Like you've gotten anywhere! You should be grateful someone like me chose to even talk to you today!"

Dan snorted, using his index finger to rub at his nose. "Yeah right, do you know who you're talking to right now? At this very moment? He is none other than Dan Kuso! The greatest brawler alive!"

Runo felt the need to burst his stuck up bubble, interjecting dully, she said, "Yeah right, you've still got **him** to take out and we all know how that's not gonna happen." She smirked as she noticed the irked expression on Dan. "And even after that failed attempt blows up in your face, you'll be put up against the future greatest female brawler to ever exist, me!"

A long moment passed by as Dan stared blankly at his computer screen. He then proceeded to fall down whilst erupting with laughter. Runo fumed while pouting, a light blush tainting her cheeks. "What's so funny moron!?"

Dan got up while rubbing a tear in his left eye. "You should've seen the look on your face when you said that, priceless!"

Runo grit her teeth, still glaring, as she huffed while turning to look away. "Oh shut up already! I'm logging out to go get ready for my new school, see ya later moron!" The pop up window closed shortly afterwards.

Dan took awhile to let the information sink in. He had to go to school today… He had to go to school TODAY!

Dan's voice rose, along with his frustration. "AH MAN! I'm a Bakugan Brawler for crying out loud! I don't need SCHOOL!"

The door to his room had suddenly flung open to reveal a slightly taller female with auburn, shoulder length hair, dressed in a obsidian colored t- shirt, with matching tight shorts while wearing red sandals.

This woman was none other than Miyoko Kuso, Dan's mom.

"Good morning dear, I couldn't help but overhear you ranting about something involving school." She smiled a tad bit too innocently. "Care to share your thoughts?"

Now Dan knew when coming to social interactions, that he was no genius, far from it, but he certainly wasn't dumb in that department either. He could tell by the tone his mom was using that there were some dark intentions revolving around his well being hidden that was involved.

He recalled the rare times his dad would sit down with him to have a one on one on these kinds of things, also recalling how he had gravely been forewarned on one of the smile's his mother was currently spotting and if he were stupid enough to even make one slight mistake with what he was about to say next, his fear of being castrated would most likely be the least of his worries.

He chuckled nervously. "Nothing… Just thinking to myself out loud again about how horrible the disciplinary measures are that came with being late for school, really."

Miyoko walked up to Dan and gave him a hug before pinching at both his cheeks, causing him groan in pain and slight embarrassment. Just because he was twelve doesn't mean his mom had to rub it in by treating him like one.

Miyoko chirped in happily, proud of her son's more matured thinking. "Such a good boy! Well sweetie we won't have to worry about that since mommy's taking you to school today!"

After a few painful seconds of pinching related torture, Dan was able to free himself and took off in a sprint towards his escape in the form of the bathroom. "That's okay Mom!" he yelled. "I've got an awesome bike to get me there."

Miyoko once again chirped in, masking a bit of her confusion.

"Don't you mean your bicycle dear?"

Dan was too preoccupied with setting the bathtub water to hot to actually hear what exactly his mother was talking about. Either that or he just knew how to hide his sweat drop. 'Talk about getting out of that one unharmed, I might just be in lucky today. '

Steam began to form around the room as Dan took in a deep breath. He climbed into the bathtub and leaned back onto the solid crook of the edge. 'Wonder if anything awesome involving brawling will happen today?'

**. . .**

After having finished bathing, Dan had gone to his room to change into his regular clothes. His upper body attire being made up of a yellow no sleeve under shirt, a short sleeved red jacket top with black pockets on both sides of his chest that stopped at his rib cage and a pair of dark blue fingerless gloves, his lower body attire consisting of a black belt with an iron buckle, red trousers that had two identical circular black ring patterns on each knee and dark blue sneakers with obsidian streaked marks around it.

He went over to his desk to put on his watch and goggles before grabbing his pouch to stock up on some ability cards and Bakugan from his personal favorite stash and firmly securing it onto his belt. Having taken care of that, he went downstairs into the kitchen to snatch up a sandwich and move to leave only for his mother to pull him back by his collar which caused him to let out a strangled yelp as he was forced down a seat.

Miyoko's tone went stern. "Now Daniel" Mrs. Kuso began. "Your father and I have been caught up in a long discussion regarding your 'vast' lack of associates."

Dan started to repeatedly bang his head on the table while letting out a silent groan. 'Not this again…'

"Now honey, as much as we'd like for you to pay attention to your school work, your father and I feel that you should also have a normal childhood."

Feeling the need to cut to the chase and actually get to school (he couldn't believe he'd actually thought that), He decided to interrupt his mother as his head rose from the table, his blank crimson boring into her eyes. "Mom I told you already, I have friends."

Miyoko paused as she realized her son had gotten to her point before she had, which led her to then sigh. "Honey, having a bunch of people pop up on your computer screen doesn't really qualify at this point."

Dan seemed to disagree with his mother's logic. "How doesn't it qualify? We talk about all kinds of things together, argue on what's cool and help each other out with homework, just like friends do." Dan neglected to mention the fact that in the homework department by 'each other', he meant him.

His mom huffed, giving a scolding glare. "And be stuck in that room of yours all weekend like the last time? Who do you exactly think has to clean that mess up before you get back from school today huh?"

Dan felt a slight tint of crimson spread across his cheeks, embarrassed at having forgotten about that small little detail. "I'm sorry mom; I'll start cleaning my room from now on… Could I go now?"

Instead of waiting for his mother's inevitable decline, he chose rather to casually stand up from his chair before dashing out to make a grab for his bike and slam the open door shut. He quickly hopped on and started peddling for his life, keeping his head directed forward in fear of the consequences of being caught looking behind to see the conclusion of his very 'eventful' Monday morning.

. . .

**Wardington- Downtown**

Dan had been rushing through vehicles stuck in traffic for the past fifteen minutes. Choosing to go through, across and pass by the multitude of them stuck on the road.

He couldn't help but start to feel anxious, "If I don't make it to school on time, that old geezer is gonna have my head." He started peddling faster, turning into an alleyway as a means of using a short cut. He passed by another block before hearing what sounded like someone screaming before hearing the sound get muffled.

Was it just him or did that sound like trouble?

Dan turned back, ignoring the feeling in his gut as he did so, to enter the alleyway he passed by only to go wide eyed at seeing a group of three grown men surrounding what looked like a girl.

One man snickered darkly as he rubbed his hands together. "Well-well-well, looks like we've caught a cute one today boys."

The second nodded in agreement, "Sure have, and she's a feisty one too."

The girl gave a defiant glare as she struggled to move. "Back off you creeps! Let go of me!"

The third out of the bunch seemed amused at her tenacity as he held the squirming girl down. "What's wrong little girl? Haven't been with a real man before?" he tighten his grip on her arms as he got closer to the girl he had pinned under him, the other two following closely behind.

The girl kicked at whatever she could, which worked, seeing as her foot had struck a very delicate part of her attacker's anatomy. The older individual gasped in pain, clutching at his jewels, which allowed the girl a moment to scramble to her feet and step back in fear as she felt herself bump into something solid.

She looked back, only to find a wooden wall.

Her head snapped back to stare at the three grown men, fear clear in her eyes as she realized that she was cornered with no way of escape.

A sudden idea hit her. It was so stupid yet the only pray of a chance she'd get at avoiding being raped. She shuddered.

Looking down her skirt to see her pouch hanging by her side, she slowly willed herself against the fear creeping down her spine, to pull out what appeared to be a black card.

The man that was kicked in the nuts, got up to glare at the girl, cursing under his breath as the pain she had caused was still coursing through his body. "You're going to pay for that you stupid little bitch!" The other two who had surrounded her agreed with that statement, slowly stepping forward in order to recapture her.

Just as the man in the middle, who appeared to be their leader, was about to close the distant on the fear-stricken girl…

A rock flew in, unexpectedly crashing into the side of his head.

He cursed loudly, stumbling back as he clutched to the side of his head where a slight amount of blood was starting to ooze down.

He turned to glare at the direction where the rock came from. "Okay! Who's the dead fuck that did that?!"

Dan, though not visible to the three men, stiffened. What was he thinking just storming into a situation like this with no back up whatsoever from a grown-up? Maybe because he felt he didn't have time to call for help as they were ganging up on that helpless girl?

Then again he didn't have much of a choice as this part of town was notorious for having criminals of all sorts walk the streets, which basically meant average civilians wouldn't have the guts to come help him. Meaning he'd have to either call the police, which would take too long, or go in all by himself. He had to choose the latter as the girl was defenseless and there wasn't enough time!

Even so, what could he do?

He might've been some kid from a rich neighborhood but he didn't plan on being that boy that just walked by when someone was in danger and couldn't do anything about it.

He planned on becoming the greatest brawler alive! So how could he expect to do that if he couldn't even save a helpless girl?

'If I get out of this alive, I am so gonna make that girl buy me lunch later on!' thought a now calmer Dan, resolve clear in his crimson orbs. He reached into his pouch for a Gate Card. Silently praying to whatever god there was out there for this to work and not backfire in his face.

He glared back at the three attackers.

In one hand, Dan now held a stone that he was currently throwing up and catching in mid- air while in the other hand, by the side of his pouch, he held a black card.

"That would be me you douchebag, although being dead in my case is highly unlikely."

One of the other men glared, "You've got a smart mouth for a kid that's about to die."

Dan smirked smugly.

"That's funny, coming from a dude who molests little girls only because he can't get some from women his age." A tick mark appeared on the man's forehead, one Dan ignored as he tried to sound as threatening as his twelve year old self could. "Now I'll only say this once, Let. Go. Of. The. Girl!"

The girl in question turned to look at the voice she found familiar but couldn't quite place. Her eyes widened in shock at seeing the very guy that came to her rescue was none other than Dan. "D- Dan!"

Dan froze, just for a second, as he felt his blood pound in his ears. Turning to look at the girl with the same surprised expression, dread spread through him like an untapped fountain, at the voice he knew could only belong to that one person.

"Runo!"

The three men stared at Dan before looking back at they're young prey, Runo. They all suddenly had predatory grins plastered on their faces as they stared at the little exchange.

One of the men spoke in a sickening undertone, "So you two know each other huh?"

Perfect.

Two of the three men had suddenly lung at Dan, nearly closing the short distance, shouting furiously as profanities left their lips. "You know what! Just for making our boss bleed! We're gonna kick your ass and rape that girl in front of YOU!"

Time had momentarily taken a leave of absence as the words these scumbags had just yelled out, finally set in with the young brawler.

These guys… wanted to rape Runo.

Dan's expression darkened, his hair covering his eyes momentarily as he slowly raised the hand with the black card menacingly. The tension and fear he felt for Runo's life was suddenly consumed with an unbridled urge to do something he couldn't explain. He just wanted to- He just wanted to make them PAY!

A faint glow engulfed the card he held between his fingers, something that went unnoticed by both Dan and the men near him as he, without any trace of emotion, muttered.

"… Field open"

A bright ray of light exploded across the entire area around them, momentarily blinding everyone within range.

After a few seconds or so, the light faded. Dan had his arm slung up to cover his eyes from the bright flash and only after realizing how quiet it was, brought them down.

He blinked.

Right in front of him, from both his right and left, were two of the men who had lung at him, frozen in place with an odd look of rage and surprise on their faces. Dan found this funny for a moment only to shake his head a bit at remembering where he was and what situation he was in.

Something was odd about this. When he had pulled out and activated the Gate Card, he'd expected the surroundings to warp into their familiar blue and take him into that timeless zone of space.

So why was it that instead of that zone, he was now caught in the effects of an Ability Card stopping time before warping the individuals to that other dimension?

"I have no clue as to what's going on right now." He muttered unsteadily, stepping aside to get his bike that was left on the ground. His eyes quickly flashed back with resolve. "But that's not what's important."

He walked over to find Runo, frozen too, along with the leader of these scumbags, in a fear-stricken pose. He noticed that she was gazing at the spot his would be attackers would've had him cornered in if not for the ill prepared plan he had of using the Gate Card to stop time.

Travelling to his side, crimson eyes narrowed at the sick gleam in the older rapist's eyes as he made a move to grab at the unsuspecting girl.

"I want to take you away and run Runo. I really do but…" He gripped at his bicycle in an odd angle, mustering up all the strength he had to lift up his mode of transport and smash it hard against the grown man's skull. "But I can't let these guys get away with trying to hurt YOU!"

The Gate Card pulsed yet again, slowly but surely, time began to move as a bright light erupted.

The light faded a short moment later, only for Dan to seemingly have disappeared, causing the two men to stumble into each other, hard.

One clutched his head in pain, stumbling back. He glanced at his partner.

"What the hell just happened?!"

The other grunted, reeling in from the pain. "How the hell should I know?!"

Both men stopped their bickering to the sickening sound of metal connecting with flesh.

They turned back to gape at the site of their boss on the ground, unconscious and bleeding from a nasty bruise on the head. What shocked them even more was that the auburn haired kid stood over the fallen body with his bike slung by his side in a threatening grip.

Dan turned to Runo, seriousness clear in his eyes. "Use your ability card Runo."

Runo hesitantly stared at the body of the thug on the ground before looking up to Dan with the same level of intensity. She didn't know why but something about Dan seemed different and somehow she trusted in his judgment.

"Okay"

The two street thugs glared at the two, finally recovering from their shock induced glares to lung at the two kids with their fists drawn. "You're both dead!"

Runo seemed to hesitate for a second before looking on to Dan's steely crimson. It seemed to ease her out of her fear as both individual's raised their ability cards towards their would-be attackers' direction.

"Field open!"

The bright light once again engulfed not one but both cards at the command of the Brawlers, the area around them beginning to slow down before warping them into another dimension which was made up of pure cobalt space, having a multitude of vortexes surround them in distant, far off places.

Dan and Runo found themselves standing on nothing, being surrounded by only vast amounts of emptiness.

Dan turned to Runo with a worried expression. "You shouldn't walk around these parts of the city Runo." he wanted to scold her but figured that it wouldn't do anyone any good. He paused to compose himself. Glad that she was safe.

"You okay though?"

She nodded appreciatively, though still slightly shaken up by the terrible experience. "Yeah, thanks for saving me back there."

She paused to take note of the anger in Dan's crimson eyes. Was he angry over her being attacked? Who would've thought he cared about her that much.

She felt her cheeks turn a bit red as she nudged his arm with an elbow. "Hey Dan, you… okay?"

He turned away from her to look out into space. Not sure if Runo should see him like this. He didn't seem to realize that he unconsciously cared about what Runo thought of him as he took a deep breath.

"I'm pissed off right now, the shit those guys said… just makes me wanna take my bike and smash it down they're heads. Over and over…"

Runo grew worried at the tone Dan was using, having rarely ever heard him swear. This wasn't the Dan she'd argue with via Monitor on a day to day basis and that somehow worried her.

"Let it go Dan, you saved me didn't you? And besides, those idiots weren't worth it, I knew they were following me so I'd called the cops a few minutes ago, they should be on their way to cuff those guys before they even know what hit them."

Dan sighed in resignation, feeling sort of at ease. "Your right… I was just mad because they wanted to hurt you." His words made Runo blush incredulously, Dan didn't notice however as something clicked in his head. He grew confused at having suddenly realized something.

"Hey Runo… what exactly are you doing here?"

She blinked, "… What do you mean?"

He turned to her, feeling he'd need to explain more. "As in, what are you doing in Wardington? I don't ever see you around so I just guessed that you lived somewhere else far off across the world."

She smiled. Now it made sense. "Oh that, well my parents relocated here while I was just a little kid because of how good business was doing."

He shook his head in clear confusion at her words. That didn't make sense, how could she have grown up in Wardington if he'd never seen her before. "But then that still doesn't explain why I don't see you around."

She poked him on the chest, clearly annoyed. "Well maybe some of us have jobs on the weekend to get to instead of just hanging around the neighborhood doing nothing but brawl all day… unlike a certain someone I know."

His shoulders sank at the comparison she made. "Didn't think of it that way…"

"Don't worry about it Dan." She chirped in, "With me around, you'll have no problems trying to overload your brain with stuff like thoughts anymore! Isn't that great?"

Dan gave her a dry look, "Not funny Runo"

Runo couldn't help but make fun of him. There was just something about Dan that made her feel at ease with herself. So much that it was able to make her relax and forget about the fear she felt back there.

She found herself giggling for a change. "To you maybe…" Her expression changed into that of a contemplative gaze. "Say, do you remember what direction we were facing when we activated the field again?"

He thought about it for a second before snapping his fingers. "Oh yeah, we were facing East!"

She started walking towards the West, "West it is then."

Dan yelled while stumbling after her, "Hey wait a second, you forgot to tell me when to close up the field! Runo!"

Runo ignored Dan's loud shouts of 'Wait up!' to smile for a second. Dan really was something else wasn't he.

The auburn haired brawler found himself smiling while stumbling after her, whispering low enough so the blunette wouldn't hear.

"At least you're okay… You're still gonna buy me lunch though."

**. . .**

**Afterschool- Wardington Primary**

It was around four o'clock in the afternoon when Dan and Runo started leaving the school premise due to them being stuck in detention for arriving late earlier on that day.

They both were currently walking outside the school gates, arguing on whose fault it was for them getting into detention.

Runo stomped onwards, speeding up in an attempt to shake off Dan, "Oh Yeah! Well was I the one who came up with the bright idea to stop for some stupid snack!"

Dan caught up to her, glaring in defiance. Like he'd let her pull off that card!

"Ah come on! I only had one sandwich for breakfast and besides, I wasn't the one hogging all over the food! I swear you took fifteen minutes to finish all that crap up while I was waiting for you outside!"

Runo felt her cheeks burn from the embarrassing fact, pointing an accusing finger at Dan in a declaration. "I refuse to listen to any more of your false accusations, it's either you shut up and give me a ride home or high tail it out of here before I kick your butt so hard, your Dad will have the exact red foot imprints from my shoe by the time you get home."

Dan sweat dropped at the sudden swift of tides, shivering slightly at the crazy look in Runo's eyes when she said 'kick'. "Okay! Okay! No need to pull out the finger, I get it, It was my fault… initially." He whispered that last part.

Runo eyed him suspiciously, "What was that?"

Dan grinned wryly, "Nothing at all Runo, nothing at all"

Dan proceeded to climb on the leather seat of his bike while Runo hopped onto his lap, causing both to blush incredulously before Dan started peddling towards the directions Runo had been yelling at him to take.

This went on for the next fifteen minutes.

Runo turned to look forward, keeping her eyes on Dan for a moment. "You know, now that I think about it, what you did earlier on was really brave, especially for a twelve year old kid."

Dan grinned, keeping his gaze forward. As if! He wanted to pee himself at the beginning. Not that he'd tell Runo that. "It's like I told you before, Dan the man is the greatest brawler alive!"

Runo gave Dan a dry look. "Yeah don't push it little man, that was just a lucky one time off praise, don't be expecting more anytime soon."

Dan's grin never faltered a bit as an amused glint crossed his eyes.

"Of course, I mean because you're just so good at defending yourself against impossible odds, you single handedly fend off a bunch of molesters! And not only that but then after eating to your heart's content, you were able to get some unsuspecting civilian to fork over cash you didn't have!" Dan held off an amused chuckle at the tick mark that had developed on Runo's forehead. "And to simply put it, you could accomplish all of that because you were the greatest female brawler to ever ex-"

Dan was cut off by Runo turning around and giving him a slap to the back of his head, the sound echoing across the street they were on. Dan groaned painfully while clutching the area of his head Runo had hit so hard. 'Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!'

The following minutes were spent in silence, all to Runo's content, which was only disturbed by the occasional grumpy mumbling from Dan. Runo had suddenly ordered Dan to stop in his tracks, causing him to raise a brow as he engaged his brakes, only to take note of Runo hopping off and walking towards the restaurant's glass double door entrance beside them.

Dan hopped off his bike where it then crashed onto the pavement with a 'clang' sound, He grabbed at Runo's wrist, pulling her back towards him which had the girl confused yet flustered at the same time due to the feeling of Dan's fingers on her wrist. "Wh-what are you doing moron?"

Dan sighed at Runo's expression, mistaking the blush on her face to have surfaced from anger at him pulling her back instead of asking for her to stop. Like she'd listen anyway, "Ain't no way in Pyrus-space hell, I'm paying for this next meal Runo, you can eat when you get home for crying out loud!"

Runo stared blankly at Dan for a moment before dragging him into the restaurant which in turn made him grunt in disagreement. "Geez talk about a lack in short term memory, I live here Dan."

Dan was dumbfounded. "You live in a restaurant?"

Runo sighed, noting that Dan's stupidity had reached a new high. "No you dummy, I live upstairs with my parents, they own this restaurant remember? Were you even paying attention to what I was saying in Bakugan space?"

Dan scratched his head while laughing nervously, "You can't blame me for forgetting, that was before school started and we got into a lot of crap after that."

Runo stared at Dan suspiciously yet was unable to form an argument, finding his alibi to be true. "Good point, that Ms. Purdy is one crazy woman."

A voice beamed from upstairs, "Runo honey! Is that you?"

Runo's face grew pale; she quickly grabbed Dan by the collar and dragged him out of the restaurant. "Dan… You need to listen to me carefully… You have to jump on that bike of yours and peddle like you've just dropped your Dad's pudding in front of him!"

Dan sweat dropped at the comparison before growing confused as Runo pulled up his bike in an urgent manner, "Runo, who's exactly upstairs that would have you going stir crazy on me?"

Runo ignored the jab whilst forcing Dan onto his bike before proceeding to slap his back which earned a yelp from the young brawler before he started peddling while Runo yelled at him. "Peddle! Damnit! Peddle!"

Dan was rounding off a corner but paused to give a comical salute before peddling forward and out of sight. Runo had let out a sigh. "*whew* that was a close one."

The glass doors to the restaurant opened up to reveal a tall, slightly over- weight man with darkened blonde hair walk up to Runo before giving her a hug. "How was school my little girl?"

Runo returned the hug with as much enthusiasm. Feeling glad she'd avoided another session of her dad's 'This is my lovely daughter' picture fest. "It was okay Dad" she smiled into the hug. "I met a crazy new friend, kind of an idiot though if you ask me."

Tatsuo Misaki, Runo's father and established restaurant owner pulled back from the hug to give his daughter a perturbed look. "Idiot? For a second there Runo, you almost had me thinking you were talking about a boy."

. . .

**Between Worlds- Vestroia**

"Interesting…"

Lars seemed to share the same intrigue as her fellow Bakugan watched the crystal orb carefully. "He is a strange one though isn't he, Apollonir?"

The Dragonoid nodded. "That he is."

The two Lords were currently looking into a crystal orb that showcased what appeared to be a boy with familiar auburn, short length hair and crimson eyes, peddling down a street with a grin plastered on his face.

"I wonder if he realizes just what kind of a miraculous feat he was able to pull off earlier today." Apollonir mused. Lars glanced at him for a moment before focusing back to the orb.

"Do you plan on adding him to the list of potentials?"

Apollonir didn't reply. He only seemed to stare even harder at the boy before finally looking back to meet Lars eyes.

"In due time sister, in due time."

…

***whew* and we're done for the day, now remember kiddies to read and review! And remember, constructive criticism. By the way, you guys should know that Dan's bicycle will be referred to as bike from now on. **

**Why you ask? Because no one in the history of fan fiction ever wants to use the word bicycle in more than one chapter in fanfiction, especially since I'm starting with this idea right off the bat! **

**I really want to update this but then I can't if I don't have any of you loving authors to build up that confidence that just makes you wanna walk up to a teacher and pimp slap the bastard for always being an ass on your grades. **

**So hopefully this doesn't get cut short or else I'll just have put up with this being a OneShot (Let's hope it doesn't come to that, It's funny how normally when I say that, something bad happens…) **

**(Please tell me I didn't suck, Please tell me I didn't suck, Please tell ME!)**

***whew* That was a good way to let out some steam, Aero out. *Walks away***


	2. To The World That Once Was

Review Shout outs

**GuesTie: Hehe, Yeah it is, Call it the Introduction Arc if you will, It's just meant to get everyone use to the way our favorite character's act.**

**CharmingAlisha95: Thanks, glad you like it. About your question though, it isn't that Runo's not allowed to talk to boys, it's just that she's afraid of her 'overprotective' Dad finding out about Dan, you've seen in the series how excited he gets when someone asks about Runo. **

**InnocentDiamond: Thanks for the head's up on the ratings but I should warn you that this story is going to get pretty violent, especially after this Introduction Arc is done with but I could see as to how the last chapter was subtle so I changed the rating to T for the time being, just to be save. Also, when you think about it, Dan has more rivals then he actual has Friends, that and the fact that the Brawlers parents didn't really know anything about what they were doing until they had to explain everything just after coming back from the Doom Dimension. **

**AN: *Sigh*… If only I'd get as many reviews as I do views, It's good to know that people acknowledge this story yet I can't help but want to know if I suck at this and need to improve or am I actually getting better… but hopefully I'll be able to get more of a response with this chapter. **

Oh and a few references to how I write:

"": Character Speech

'': Character Thoughts

Underlined Words: Ability/Technique

**Bold and Underlined words**: Place or Event

**(Brackets that incase Bold and Underlined words)**: Memory/Flashback

**Hope I cleared any misconceptions with my Review Shout outs and now on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bakugan… Man does saying that suck all the time…

**Chapter 2- To The World That Once Was**

**. . .**

It wasn't clear or not on whether he was still in the land of the living or on his way to meeting up with the creator, if it were option two then he probably would've preferred his death to go more smoothly, like dying in one's sleep, oh how wonderful a way that would've been to go.

It was definitely less painful then how it was turning out to be right now…

He was certain, 'dead' certain that she noticed his skin was paling. He also found that his air pipe was being constricted, which led him to believe that he was being strangled, that and that his body was unable to function at the very moment.

Fate wasn't this cruel, at least not in a sense to let him die this way he believed, he was only twelve for crying out loud!

He still had brawls to battle out, a rival in the form of a boy his age…

He told himself rather to not let that thought get to him, not when faced with the situation at hand that would only lead to his untimely demise.

Having come to that one conclusion that had made its presence known within the very depths of his mind, Dan could only cringe, gasp and struggle in fear.

He would try as he might to apply all his willpower into his lifeless arms, but the force behind the grip at which his assailant was using was far greater than he could have ever imagined, and quite terrifying to him.

With the last ounce of willpower left in his being, Dan let out a strangled gasp as he pleaded, "Ru… Ru… Runo, stop…"

Said girl tightened her grip on his neck, the anger in her growing fiercer. Runo narrowed her eyes at his pathetic attempt. "Not on your best day moron."

Runo watched as Dan squirmed in front of her, his face taking on a light tint of blue. She would kill him for this, for what he did to her, there was just no way around this, someone had to die and that someone would be Dan!

She honestly couldn't stand the sight of the idiot right now, not after what he'd done to her, and in front of the entire class to boot. She just couldn't understand why Dan would do something so utterly stupid, idiotic, dim-witted and, and, and just…

Stupid

No this would be her time, revenge would belong to her, no way around it. She'd make the moron pay!

And to think that he took all that as a joke, making her feel like a fool at being so easily flustered by a note that was so simple… yet demanding, certain and most importantly needy. You don't go around playing with a girl's emotions like that.

… You just don't

A click was heard throughout the room they were in, followed off by a long and irritable creak, signifying that the door to the class had just been opened. A pair of azure orbs came into view before stilling in fear of the menacing glare being sent towards it by Runo and the pleading gleam held within Dan's eyes.

Both Dan and Runo found themselves muttering a name reluctantly in unison.

"… Ryo"

. . .

**(Flashback- Twenty Minutes Prior- Wardington Primary School)**

The day had started off as boring as usual, Maths was the fourth period before lunch and he'd heard enough about his fare share of boring equations. Dan felt bored; having not brawled in over four days was starting to irk him physically, mentally and a tad bit emotionally.

Now Dan wasn't exactly lazy- okay, he was damnable lazy but he would always make up for it with his enthusiasm, perseverance and uncontested determination.

The problem at hand though, resulted in not having much to actually do. He found it strange that everywhere he went he wouldn't be able to find a single trace of activity involving brawling of any kind…

… Was it school? And if so, was it really that serious?

To everyone?

Or was it because of something else…

He recalled the time he tried to walk in on Runo serving a customer at the family restaurant before being sent flying across the room and eventually outside the business followed off by a 'Get lost Dan, I'm busy!'

That had been the last time this week, that he'd set foot inside that… establishment.

He groaned irritably, directing his vision towards the window beside him, trying to think on what could actually be causing everyone to stay so focused on school. Sure Runo was there and maybe a couple of other kids he knew from class but it just wasn't the same these days.

He needed to do something, something awesome, awesome and risky at the same damn time!

Now it was one thing to go up against a knucklehead like Dan but it was a whole other story to go up against a bored, deprived Daniel, because Dan Kuso was dangerous a brawler in his own right but a bored Daniel Kuso…

was life threatening.

Runo, who was currently sittied behind him, had been watching Dan fidget uncomfortable from time to time before slumping onto his desk, quirking a brow, she reached for him till a voice rang out throughout the class.

"DANIEL KUSO!"

They both froze; fear clinging to every movement their muscles could produce before Runo managed to retract her hand from Dan's position discreetly.

Dan, being the slightly intelligent individual that he was, chose not to move an inch from his current position. Having been caught day dreaming in class was not on his to do list today, especially if it was by a menacing, violent and respect demanding woman such as Ms. Purdy.

"Daniel" Ms. Purdy addressed, adding a sickening sweet tone to her voice. "Would you mind telling the class what exactly…" she let the sentence hang purposefully, allowing it to form a menacing atmosphere around her class.

'Oh no…' thought a fear stricken Dan, an involuntary shiver working up his spine at the thought of what was about to transpire.

Ms. Purdy continued, "Is so important that it caused you to… NOT pay attention to half of the LESSON!" The entire class cringed at the shouts of stupidity, poor behavior and irresponsibility for the next five minutes, all being directed towards one unfortunate Dan.

Runo couldn't help but giggle at her friend's misfortune, moving forward, she gave a playful slap to his shoulder, hoping to brighten up the dejected expression on Dan's face. "Oh cheer up Dan, It wasn't that bad." She snickered, "at least she didn't call your parents, that on its own would've been hilarious."

Dan gave her a dry look, making sure to put in as much sarcasm as he possibly could into his next sentence. "How sweet of you to cheer me up like that Runo, really you're such a great friend."

Runo pouted playfully, making her eyes sparkly irresistibly as it made her look all the more cuter, "You aren't mad at me Daniel… now are you?"

Dan cursed under his breath, using the best of his willpower to avoid turning around to look into those eyes. "Yeah, I am… just not at you."

Runo quirked an eyebrow, confusion clear on her face, "What do you mean? I get that Ms. Grumpy just crushed your hopes and dreams but you don't care about what she says right?"

Dan sighed. He knew she probably wouldn't have understood where he was coming from but spoke anyways. "You remember the time I was checking out my ranking on the Brawlers list?"

She nodded, "Yeah I saw that you moved up thirty places from your last ranking, good job by the way, but go on."

He turned back to look her directly in the eyes, "Well after the whole thing with you butting in with your stupid pop up…"

Runo's left eye twitched in malice, she restrained herself from harming the moron as he continued. "I checked the list again and found out that 'He' dropped down." Dan's features had become distant at the mention of the word 'he'.

Runo's features softened, she knew exactly who Dan was referring to and couldn't help but sympathize with how he felt, she hadn't known 'him' for a long time, not longer than Dan did at least, but could see from the time they spent that 'he' was important to Dan, or use to be at least…

She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted, "But that's not what bothers me the most…"

Runo grew confused, "That's not it?"

Dan shook his head in disagreement, "Nah… It's who suddenly got into the top ten that did… Masquerade"

Runo looked surprised, having heard rumors of the ghost- like brawler, concluding that he was just a myth that some kid exaggerated off the net.

She stared at Dan like he had just grown two heads. "So what you're telling me is that the guy actually exists?"

Dan nodded grimly. "Yeah… but that's not the worst of it."

Runo fell silent, feeling anxious at what her friend was about to say.

Dan continued, taking Runo's silence as an invitation to go on, his jaw clenching as he spoke.

"He's… He's ranked… number one"

Runo grew wide eyed at the statement, not believing her ears. She couldn't find the words to explain what exact was going through her mind at the time but knew for sure that her brain had just had an immediate shut down.

'Number one! That's impossible… ' she thought bewildered.

The silence that hung around them was thick with tension, with Runo's bewildered stare towards Dan's downcast expression, it was hard to believe that one of them planned on breaking it.

Till…

"Uhm… Runo?"

Said girl blinked blankly before snapping her head at the direction of the boy standing right next to her. She stared for awhile, wondering if he realized that he had just interrupted a moment, particularly a serious moment between two… friends.

She glanced at Dan, seeing that he had turned to the front of the class as to avoid being caught with such a fowl look, turned back to stare at the face of the boy next to him.

The first thing she noticed was his hair, a loose and wild style of green. Then came his eyes, which was slightly hidden by the light reflecting off the glasses he wore, they were gold with a light shade of yellow. His skin was looking pale though, he appeared to be very nervous.

Runo forced a smile. "Hi, uh, do I know you?"

Said boy mumbled nervously, sweat starting to form on his forehead, "N-no, I'm Ryo, nice to meet you."

Runo softened at the Ryo's shyness, finding it kinda cute. "Nice to meet you too Ryo, you really seem a bit shy though."

Ryo chuckled nervously, a light blush made its way across his face as he reached for something into his pocket. He pulled out an envelope, his hands shaking nervously in fear of rejection. "Th- This is for you."

Runo glanced at the envelope, feeling slightly flustered at seeing a small heart sealed on it. "For me? Oh I wonder what's inside."

Ryo's blush deepened, he turned around hurriedly, "Uh, I'll head over to my desk now; It was uh… nice talking to you."

After seeing Ryo take a seat, Runo let out a sigh dejectedly, 'And he was such a nice guy too, kinda nerdy but whatever, having to let him down is going to be hard.'

She tore off the top of the envelope curiously, taking out the letter inside, she discreetly read out what she saw.

Dear Runo

I know we haven't known each other for a long time, uh, now that I think about it we actually don't know each other at all…

Runo giggled in amusement, finding the honesty to be quite welcoming.

She read on….

But I've noticed you from afar, as I always have since the very first day you've been here. The way you smile from time to time when Ms. Purdy yells or when you curl a lock of your hair when you think no one's watching…

And I think I really like you for it, because you seem different from all the other girls that seek attention from everyone, always wanting to be popular or focusing on being pretty…

Not to say that you're not pretty! It's just… with you its natural, like a lioness in its prime

Runo blushed slightly; she never knew the idea of someone considering her beautiful would have such an effect on her.

She shyly read on.

What I wanted to tell you, what I'm too nervous to say to you in person, what I probably would've never had the courage to say let alone write if Dan hadn't of gave me the thumbs u-

Runo stopped to read that last sentence over again.

She read it over and over and over and over…

Until it finally clicked in her head.

Dan was snickering, having not expected Ryo to ask Runo out only three days after he told him that the Haos brawler liked him, was surprising brightening up his mood.

'The look on her face when she's done reading the letter is going to be priceless, now all I have to do is set the camera in my watch to auto.' He thought amusingly before a sudden cold chill had once again ran across his spine. It felt more threatening, more lively and most importantly, more closer to him than Ms. Purdy's last one.

The bell had just rang, which in turn caused the entire class to roar in appreciation at the prospect of leaving Ms. Purdy's horrible math lesson. They all hurried out to lunch meanwhile two distinct figures stayed behind.

Dan turned around slowly with caution and fear in his eyes and stared directly into what he thought was the most terrifying sight on the face of the planet.

It was safe to say that today, was going to be his last day on mother earth.

. . .

**Lunch Period- Wardington Primary**

"… Ryo"

Said person was still frozen in fear over the menacing glare Runo was giving him. Choosing rather to be smart and let this play out on their terms. Having accidently stumbled upon the two bickering- more along the lines of Runo strangling the life out of Dan, had left him pretty shaken up.

An awkward silence fell upon the group. It would have lasted longer if not for a certain loud mouth auburn haired brawler deciding to meekly interject.

Dan's arm rose slowly towards Ryo in an act of desperation, pleading silently in hopes of being rescued from certain death. "Ryo… Please… help me"

Ryo shook visibly, having not anticipated a situation as severe as this. On one side was Dan, a class mate in need of urgent rescuing from a fate leading to an untimely end and on the other end…

There was a terrifying demon in the form of Runo…

Ryo gulped, "If- If I just keep quiet and walk out the classroom like none of this ever happened, you wouldn't chase after me would you?"

Runo turned to Dan, glaring at him with a renewed amount of intensity, whispering, "If you ever do something as stupid as play with my emotions like that again…. I'll beat you're face in to a point where your own mother won't even be able to recognize you, got that?"

Before he could answer, she chose to let go, watching Dan drop to the floor as he gasped for air. She turned to Ryo angrily before her head hung, walking up to him with a sad look in her eyes as she took a hold of his arm and dragged him out of the room before slamming the door behind them.

She didn't want to hurt him but Dan just had to be the moron he is and take everything as a joke. A large amount of sadness struck her with each word she muttered.

"Ryo… We need to talk."

. . .

**Pyrus Space- Vestroia**

Small amounts of ember drifted alongside the edge of a dark, distant volcano, slowly twirling and spiraling around the unseen object that stood atop its peak.

The object in question appeared to be large and menacing, its outer exterior consisting of a defined red steel-like skin which made up its entire body except from his waist line, which was a mixture of gold and auburn.

Its face was long and angular with a set of piercing emerald eyes and wings that were double the size of a highly engineered jumbo jet. A horn in the shape of a blade protruded out of his forehead while its tail lay along the edge of the ground he currently stood on.

The creature appeared to be a dragon.

He gazed into the distance, finding it hard to take in all the chaos that had recently enveloped his home.

He recalled a time not too long ago where he'd been able to freely communicate with Wayvern again, the empty feeling of being the only one of his kind had long since gone after that day, the feeling being replaced with that of comfort.

But alas for every good, there was a bad. He realized this when he'd come toe to toe with the very dragon he was waiting for today.

It had been awhile since he had spoken to the guy too, he could reckon…

He recalled the sound of Wayvern's voice, its deep yet soothing tone giving off a sense of warmth towards him, how she had laughed at his silly babblings of how the Juggernoids of Pyrus-Space were a bunch of lazy bastards that complained about the work ethic of its fellow Bakugan.

He had honestly enjoyed himself back then, not having to enforce authority upon Pyrus was a added bonus in his eyes, that and the slight blush Wayvern adorned when he admitted to growing fond of her.

Then came of course, the day he had been forced to dodge a vicious claw strike by a Bakugan that's features were similar to that of Wayvern.

He was first confused at the striking resemblance before growing even more perturbed at the fact that an attack with such force and more importantly, executed at such speed could've permanently mammied him.

He was prepared to engage this new threat in an all out grudge match, if it hadn't been for Wayvern interjecting and thus stopping the ensuing fight from happening by addressing the being above him…

… As her brother

The conversation after that had been long and aggravating due to the killer intent being emitted from both parties, that was until Wayvern knocked them both back into their senses before going back to talking of things such as the two cores, Aquas' soothing waters and something about Subterra's dry atmosphere.

It had been peaceful back then too, fairly different to what was escalating out of proportions now. To say that the Dragonoid was saddened at the turn of events was putting it mildly.

"Drago"

He recognized that deep, immoral tone from anywhere. Choosing rather not to turn around and instead keep his gaze directed towards the distant fires ahead of him.

"It's been a long while now, hasn't it… Naga"

. . .

**Afterschool- Wardington Primary**

Dan strolled outside of the premise dejectedly. Having forgotten his bike today, he found himself walking home yet again… alone.

It's true that he'd felt guilty for earlier on but he hadn't expected for everyone, including Runo, to turn on him and flat out ignore his existence like they did, it pretty much stung like hell.

Sighing, he flung his bag around to the side, taking out his goggles before putting them above his hair line. 'It was just a joke between me and Runo… I don't get what's got everyone so bummed out about it.'

He zipped up his back, feeling that the treatment he'd gotten today hurt more than usual. He wasn't quite sure what Runo meant by calling him an insensitive dumbass but figured that it was bad news all the same.

Then came Ryo…

He shook his head at the thought, feeling anger rise within him at the guy's actions.

He remembered trying to apologize, keeping it as light and easy going as possible till he took a good look at the glare the boy was giving him.

Things had not went as planned from there on, Ryo picking up the courage to challenge him to a one on one brawl with just one Bakugan on each side had him anxious yet strangely excited. He couldn't say much about it, he just loved to brawl.

It was just that simple.

But the battle was different compared to all the others he had, he didn't taunt Ryo the way he would everyone else, neither did he tell him how he himself wasn't going to lose.

It was safe to say that the battle had some unnecessary tension hanging between both brawlers… but that wasn't even the worst of it.

. . .

**(Flashback- Dan vs Ryo)**

Dan's knuckles whiten as he clenched his fists roughly, eyeing his Pyrus Saurus' movements carefully as he ducked a decapitating swipe from Darkus Mantris, noting that the battle had been going on for a minute now, both him and Ryo having only used one ability card each.

Saurus being embedded with the Jungle Breath ability, had started off with a clear advantage as he landed a set of barrages into Mantris' midsection, thus sending the Bakugan flying across the field.

Dan eyed the Darkus Bakugan cautiously, "Stay alert Saurus!"

Saurus in turned nodded, giving Dan a side-glance before moving into a defensive stance.

Ryo's jaw clenched in pint up frustration, keeping his glare on Dan as he ordered, "Mantris! get up! We're not losing this battle to some jerk who doesn't know a single thing about brawling!"

Dan's eyes hardened, taking the insult to heart. "Ryo… I get that your mad but don't for a second… think I'd let you get away with dissing me like that!"

Ryo smiled smugly. "You call it a diss? Guess what, I call it the truth. I mean look at what you've been doing throughout this battle the whole time?"

Dan's intense stare took on a more reluctant gleam as he grew confused at the statement which was clearly visible on his face.

"What are you tryna get at Ryo? A battle's about the power of your Bakugan and figuring out how to make it stronger and stronger as the battle goes on, that's what I've been doing from the get go and it's worked for me just fine."

Ryo's eyes clamped shut, shaking his head in clear amusement at Dan's idiotic battle style, the smirk still visibly on his face. "Why am I not surprised, I could tell you the many faults to that way of brawling but considering what you made me go through with Runo…" he paused, his eyes opened to reveal a menacing glare. "I'd rather beat it into you instead! Ability Activate: Winged Machete!"

Saurus barely had time to react as a large amount of purple energy engulfed Mantris' claws, causing them to double in size as the Darkus insect roared out a vicious battle cry before lunging at Saurus in a surprising burst of speed.

Saurus had ducked down instinctively, narrowly avoiding the first sweep before rolling out of the way of the second claw, the force causing him to stumble back before he quickly regained steady ground.

Ryo grit his teeth momentarily before balling his fists angrily, feeling frustration get to him, "Come on Mantris! Finish him off already!"

Dan's ballied fists before slowly retracting as it then twitched slightly as it neared his pouch, he knew he'd never hear the end of it if he'd lose; Dan the loud mouth got beaten by the very nerdy Ryo in a brawl. He'd have none of it.

None…

Mantris went in for the kill, reeling back his enormous claws before leaping to air and bringing them down in the form of a X.

Dan quickly pulled out his ability card in urgency, hoping it would work in time. "Ability Activate: Fire Wall!**"**

A large amount of fire had seemingly built up from nowhere, spiraling around Saurus in a heated frenzy before shooting out into the air in the form of a flaming cyclone. Mantris struck into the flames, cringing in pain at the immense heat.

Meanwhile,

Dan and Ryo watched on as the battle escalated, Ryo turning to look at his Baku pod. He found himself smirking triumphantly, 'That ability Dan just pulled out decreased my Mantris' power level by 50, but considering that his Pyrus Saurus' power level is at 390 and my Mantris is still standing at 400, this game is as good as mine… just like I planned.'

"Oi Ryo" Dan muttered loud enough, getting the grass head's attention as a sudden flash of determination sparked in his eyes. "Here's something to remember next time we battle…"

Mantris' claws eventually broke through into the flaming cyclone, yet instead of the flames disappearing with the ability, its flames redirected into Saurus' mouth, forming an intensely comprised ball of spiraling Pyrus energy.

Ryo's eyes grew wide in shock, "But how?"

Dan stared directly into his eyes, a distant yet calm feel adorning his orbs as he continued from where he left off.

"Because you're looking at the one kid who believes in being a brawler more than anything… "

At that moment, Mantris' claws viciously pierced through Saurus' chest, causing Saurus' built up blast to burst out into a breathtaking beam of fire that incinerated Mantris' head from the neck up.

Both Bakugan had been knocked out of the field, which meant it was a draw. Both Bakugan were currently being directed to their rightful owners, returning into ball form as the field closed off and time re-ensued.

Ryo stood his ground, utterly speechless at the turn of events. How was that even possible, Dan hadn't even used an ability card! "How did you…"

Dan, on the other end, held up Saurus' ball form between his thumb and index, his gaze seeming very distant towards it.

"I… don't know, I just did it I guess…" 

. . .

Dan sighed in confusion, finding it hard to believe that what had happened between Saurus and Mantris, had actually transpired. "Damn it, I was this close to getting owned by Ryo even with Fire Wall activated… It might've been a draw but deep down… I know I was lucky."

He found himself walking into a park as he grit his teeth, feeling frustrated at Ryo's taunting, what had he meant by all that crap anyways?

-You call it a diss? Guess what, I call it the truth. I mean look at what you've been doing throughout this battle the whole time?-

It had only registered that he had unintentionally bumped into something solid as the dull pain had suddenly started to ache at his forehead, Dan groaned in pain as he rubbed at the spot. "What the heck did I bump int-"

He paused in mid- sentence to take in the sight of a tree…

But this wasn't just any particular tree…

This tree withheld a lot of personal memories, memories that were very important to him. Ones he shared with a girl he couldn't recall and a…

Friend, no… a former friend turned rival that He'd like to try and forget.

Dan couldn't explain it but he suddenly felt… at ease here, it had always seemed to have that effect on him, It was his tree…

Their tree…

But it was also a silent reminder as to how things had changed from those times, sure he was still incredibly young compared to old folk and his parents, but those times were important enough to have an effect on all of them.

He had a feeling things were going to change soon… whether it was for the better or for the worst…

He didn't really know the answer to it, nor did he find himself wanting to, but it was just there, clear as day.

'Everything's gonna change somehow, I just feel it in my gut… but no matter what happens, I'll promise this one thing to myself… no matter what…'

He stared into the setting sun, a solemn look adorning his features. He was feeling it again, that amazing feeling gushing out of him from within, as he stared into the distant. "For what's important to me… I'll never give up."

He turned around swiftly; walking passed the tree before reluctantly slowing to a stop.

He didn't look back, as much as he wanted to, he didn't. Yet he found himself longing for those memories to happen to him… them once again.

Dan finally turned a take a long, hard glance at the tree before turning back to head home, re-inspired to better himself at brawling, he carried along one last thought that saddened his heart and would most probably only make sense to him and him alone.

. . .

**Pyrus Space- Vestroia**

Drago found himself staring into the distance once again, having learned of the new development with both the Infinity and Silent core from Naga, he couldn't help but feel alarmed at the prospect of a war breaking out between the Bakugan due to a strange spike in the silent core's energy readings.

His eyes closed in silent contemplation. "Could things really turn out the way Naga predicted? But it wouldn't make sense… I mean, what could cause such a large spike to build in the silent core's energy stream?"

He continued asking questions to no one but himself before sighing at getting nowhere. "Maybe I'm just worried… but if anything were to ever to befall the Bakugan… I doubt I'd be able to forgive myself…"

Drago left it at that, feeling the need to soar, he took flight and sprung into the air, accepting the fact that things could change while carrying along to one last thought that had saddened his heart greatly.

. . .

'To the World That Once Was… Goodbye'

. . .

**And we're done! Now I know I should've said this in the first chapter but I'm going to be updating this every two weeks from now on and will only take longer if struck with writer's block or whatever happens in my crazy life! But I'll be sure to keep you guys posted.**

**Last thing I'll say before I leave is that Masquerade is put in earlier due to something I have coming up, that and the timeline is around three months before canon events took place (Like I'm putting in all that poor sh**)**

**Anyway, I hope to get some constructive criticism out of you guys, that and a little boost of confidence considering that I got four reviews last time(*Fist Pump*), so I hope you enjoyed this.**

**R & R**

**Aero Out, Hops on Gargonoid before lifting off.**


	3. Interlude: When Memories Are Shared

Review Shoutouts

**InnocentDiamond**: Thanks for letting me know, I'll do my best to fix all that later on as I get better at this, considering that I really do suck.

**CharmingAlisha95**: Well to answer your question on why Dan was daydreaming in Ms. Purdy's class, thing is, what I left out in the very first chapter was that Dan on that same day saw Shun's decline from the number one spot on the list and since him and Shun knew each other from childhood, I thought Dan would've been more disappointed than portrayed in canon.

**Sura3ChanxStrife**: I'm glad you liked it, I do try my best, that's why I give people the option to flame, review or whatever it is they want to say when reading this. In the end it gives me inspiration.

**MrNoBody666**: Dude… They're twelve years old… What the hell is wrong with you?

**Sorry for taking so long to update this , Life has been a pain in the ass these days especially with studies and all, I wanted to update on Saturday but had to attend a friends' 'Apartment' Warming, I don't know why exactly but I always end up befriending people WAY older than me (I'm Seventeen by the way). One last thing, as for when the Sealed Ability comes into effect? Well… you'll just have to read to find out now won't you?**

**Our favorite Hot shot ninja gets some well needed spotlight in this one, alongside the other main characters.**

And now, on with the story…

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bakugan, period. You Americans can't sue me.

**. . .**

**Chapter 3- Interlude: When Memories Are Shared**

**. . .**

**(****Age 4- Shun****)**

"Come on Grandpa! Can't I go play with mom already?"

Anji Kazami, Grandfather of Shun, stared silently at the boy in front of him, an internal debate plaguing his mind as he recalled the technique his grandson had just executed before him. He found it immensely disturbing that a child as young as Shun was able to pull off such an advance skill off his very first try.

'This can't be… how can he have such a large reserve of energy dormant within him at such a young age?'

"Grandpa!" scream Shun, angry at his Grand pa for ignoring him. Realizing that his grandfather was still paying him no mind, he decided to tug roughly at the old man's robe, trying as hard as he could to get his attention.

"GRANDPA!"

Anji blinked for a moment, letting an amused chuckle escape his throat a short while after. He rubbed at Shun's ever growing patch of black hair, "Sorry my boy, it appears your old man's been letting the tides get to him," at Shun's sudden confused expression, Anji decided to utilize the moment to put up an interesting wager, "How about this Shun, if you can do that technique I showed you… again… then I'll let you go play with your mother for as long as you want, deal?"

"Deal!" scream the young Kazami excitedly, getting into a rigid stance. Linking his middle, ring and pinky fingers together whilst extending both his thumb and index fingers, joint together at their very tips tensely, to form the first Kuji-in Seal. The young Kazami seem to grin at the prospect of playing with his mom.

"Check this out Grandpa!"

Anji stepped back two paces. Crossing his arms expectantly, he watched as the light green energy enveloped his grandson's being intently. 'Now to see if my suspicions were true…'

Shun's eyes snapped open, yelling at the top of his lungs with all the determination residing within him, "Replication Technique!"

A large smoke cloud puffed into existence, masking Shun's presence before settling down to show not one but two identical versions of the little Kazami standing besides the original's respective sides.

Anji's eyes stayed focused on the original Shun's form in waiting… 'Three, Two, One…'

The replications suddenly popped out of existence, leaving the original to gasp out due to exertion. He collapsed on one knee; feeling the heavy strain from successfully executing the technique for the second time in a row, get to him. He cracked open an eye to stare at his grandfather in triumph,

"I did it again! ... Grandpa"

He then collapsed on the warm patch of grass underneath him as he finally lost consciousness.

Anji steadily approached the sleeping form of Shun, raising an eyebrow at the child's light snoring. He let an amused smile cross his elderly features as he moved to pick up young Shun in a bridal styled fashion before slowly throwing him over his shoulder. "You truly are a Kazami… Shun."

With his suspicions confirmed, Anji Kazami couldn't help but feel a large amount of pride swell up in him at having discovered his very own Grandson, had the potential to become the greatest ninja in shinobi history. In the most hushed yet serious tone he could ever muster up in his elderly years, he muttered.

"I will train you to one day become as great a ninja as I was…"

He strolled towards his large dojo of a house in assured silence at his decision, coming to a gradually stop in front of a door made entire of ancient hard wood. He glanced at the Kazami heir sternly, an amount of hope carefully hidden in his eyes. His next words would be buried deep, into the subconscious of the young boy he carried upon his very shoulders forever…

"Perhaps… Even greater"

. . .

**Unknown Residence**

She blinked tiredly, her limbs refusing defiantly to budge off the couch she'd been sprawled on.

She tried to see through the darkness clouding her vision, finding that everything around her seemed to be a blur. Deciding to slowly outstretch her arms, she pushed herself off the couch before yawning away the last bits of grogginess affecting her limbs.

Looking around, she noticed with a frown that the room she had fallen asleep in must've been the living room. Barely anything could be seen through the darkness thus making her stay put as she then began collecting her thoughts to assess what exactly had went on whilst she was asleep.

She remembered coming from the kitchen, tired from having to cook for herself yet again, the dumplings taking a little too long for her liking to puff up to the tender goodness she had always enjoyed.

Then came the memories of that news report she'd caught on TV, warning half the residence of Moscow on the power outage taking place later on in the late afternoon, that and to switch off all unnecessary appliances before the whole energy saving scheme would take place.

She sighed at the thought of not having power for the next few hours but then a thought came to mind, "How long have I been asleep?"

She checked her limited edition Bakugan wrist communicator, gasping in shock at the time it read…

8:30…

'No wonder it's so dark…' she thought surprised, 'I think it'll be better if I find the light switch.'

She got up from the couch, rather clumsy due to not being able to see before pulling up her arms to feel through the empty space, bumping into some furniture awkwardly before finally feeling down a wall to a switch and flicking it on to find the room being illuminated by the light coming off the bulb.

"At least the powers back." she sighed in relief, chirping happily at the prospect of the food being done. "Now to go enjoy my dumplings"

She went over into the kitchen, pulling out a bowl to pour in her famous 'warm in the cold' gravy soup before pulling at two cold dumplings and leaving it in the microwave to heat up.

After the loud zing sounded to signify that time was up, she took out the dish and went into the dining table in the living room to enjoy her home cooked meal in peaceful silence.

She chewed on the already half eaten dumpling happily, thinking on how good a day it's been.

She froze at the sudden image of a boy, no less than four, tugging roughly at an elderly man's robe while screaming the word 'Grandpa!' and just like that, an empty feeling enveloped her.

A flash of images involving the mysterious two made its way into her mind repeatedly, until she could finally yet begrudgingly piece together what it was that she was actually recalling…

A dream…

She frowned, confused at the strange dream she'd just remembered having, wondering if that little boy was… Shun?

She muttered the only question her mind could come up with,

"Who… was that?"

It didn't make sense to her, why in the first place would she ever dream about someone she barely knew?

But there was no mistaking it… the jet black hair, bright yellow eyes… It had to be him. The dream itself was more vivid than she imagined, the details seemed too clear to be considered ordinary. It was almost as if…

… It were a memory

She shook her head vigorously, scolding herself for thinking of something so unlikely, stuff like that didn't happen. Memories couldn't be shared, especially through dreams! There wasn't technology advanced enough for such a phenomenon to occur so it shouldn't have even bothered her to begin with.

But it did…

"Shun…" she whispered, feeling that familiar pang of sadness eat at her. The fact that he'd decided to cut off all his ties to everyone hurt more than anything. What's worse was that she found herself wandering why it hurt her most. Was she really that attached?

"… Where are you?"

Gradually standing, she walked over to a wooden table, gazing longingly at the glass framed portrait incasing a picture that was very close to her.

It showed an elderly man in his late 50's, dressed in a white lab coat, smiling alongside a young, petite looking girl with light, orange based, brown hair, whose smile was as happy if not, happier, with her eyes closed as the elderly man had his arm wrapped around her.

'I wish you were here Grandfather…' she felt a fresh set of warm tears surface at the ache of the memory, threaten to escape her eyelids, 'Then maybe this pain would go away.'

Try as she might, the tears eventually ended up cascading down her near pale face as she turned away sharply, before rubbing at her eyes to stop the tears. She had to be strong, for herself and the others… for her Grandfather… and Shun.

And whether it hurt or not, she'd make the effort to smile, because if there's one thing she knew… it was that in a smile…

There was hope.

She went back to the dining table, feeling that she couldn't eat anymore as she picked up her bowl before stuffing it into the refrigerator.

She then went upstairs into the bathroom, freshening up rather quickly before heading off into her room, deciding it was time to talk to the brawlers and check on how everyone was doing.

Sitting on her chair, she clicked on the internet icon and waited for the browser to showcase the Bakugan website. 'Okay who's online?… Julie, Marucho, Runo…' she frowned. ' Guess Dan hasn't come back yet.'

She clicked on the three's icons, feeling glad when all three pop ups appeared simultaneously on her desktop screen whilst being greeted by her friends.

"Why hello Alice." greeted Marucho politely. "How are you today?"

"What's up girlfriend!" beamed a rather loud Julie.

"Hey Alice" spoke Runo, smiling casually. "What's up?"

"Hey guys, hope I wasn't interrupting anything" amended Alice, giving off a friendly smile.

Runo smiled back reassuringly, "Oh nothing much, just Marucho and Julie wondering what that idiot is up to."

Julie glared at her desktop camera, "Daniel is not an idiot Runo!"

Runo glared back at the camera in defiance, "Dan is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

Marucho couldn't help but sweat drop at the ensuing online quarrel between the two girls over his friend's classification in terms of intelligence.

Alice however, smiled awkwardly at the two, the question on whether Dan was as dumb as he looked lingering in her mind- she shook her head, a light blush tainting her cheeks at the thought of berating her teammate in that way.

A thought came to mind in an attempt to stop the ensuing online war,

"Do you guys happen to know if something's going on with Daniel?" Alice asked curiously, getting both Runo and Julie to blink blankly before Marucho coughed as a means to get everyone's attention as he spoke calmly,

"Not sure exactly but I'm sure I'll be able to find out on Monday."

All three girls stared confusingly at him, making Marucho blush out of sheer embarrassment at the intensity in their eyes, he deliberated. "You see, my parents recently brought off a large part of the area in Wardington. That new building everyone there is mistaking for a company's warehouse, is actually my… house" he beamed at the last part, rubbing the back of his neck at the blank yet utterly astonished look Runo was giving him.

Runo's jaw nearly dropped at Marucho's statement, finding what he'd just said to be unbelievable, "You-You mean that skyscraper… is your HOUSE?"

Marucho smiled, still spotting the blush as he answered, "Well yes, my family- The Marukuras- are quite established in the business sector of the economy, to such a point in fact that we even own half the retail across the world."

Marucho paused to look at all the awestruck looks the girls were giving him, all their lips forming the 'o' shape. He smiled in amusement as he continued, "You should see the looks on all your faces, quite priceless if you ask me."

The girls started blinking out of their awestruck state, pausing to look at each other through their pop ups before suddenly bursting out in an uproar of laughter which caused Marucho, who didn't know why, to join in as well.

None of them remembered laughing out so hard in a long time, especially all together… well most of them anyways. It was days like these Alice especially missed. Days where their problems seemed like distant memories, when it didn't matter how long it lasted, as long as they were all together they knew that…

… Everything was okay

. . .

**Between Worlds- Vestroia**

"You're a human… aren't you?" questioned a deep, booming voice.

"**Yes…**" started a distorted voice, a hint of amusement hidden at the obviousness, "**Which brings us to my question… what exactly are you?**"

The being in question raised a nonexistent eyebrow. "I interest you? Why is that?"

"**To put it simply…**" the human trailed intently, "**Your very existence fascinates me**"

"Well then," muttered the being menacingly, "If you must know, I am what you call a Dragonoid…"

The unidentified human's glowing irises stared directly into the mass amounts of darkness held within the Dragonoid's orbs as it towered before him. "**Do you have a name Dragonoid?**"

"Naga!" declared the Dragonoid, its tone sending shockwaves across the vast space around him. "Now before I ask what is that a human is doing in between the dimensions of Vestroia, I'd prefer if you were to tell me your name… human"

The person in question smiled darkly, the disturbing look in his ever glowing indigo irises added with the low frequency in his voice made the tension in the atmosphere plausible, as he spoke in the most foreboding tone ever fathomable.

"**My name is… Michael**"

. . .

**Training Field- Kazami Residence**

He sprinted across the large area in urgency, ducking in time to avoid three very large shuriken hover just above his head, nearly decapitating him as they sliced through the large tree next to him before vanishing in a spectacular blur, leaping high into the air.

Crossing his arms steadily into an 'x' shape in mid-air, he had gripped between his fingers, three kunai, which seemed to glint dangerously across his eyes as he had them aimed at his target before thrusting out all six in a high speed barrage.

Anji, who had been anticipating the boy's movements, yawned mockingly at the incoming attack. He unsealed his katana rather quickly in a flash of mastery in swordsmanship, twirling it with his fingers as the metal suddenly spun to form a circular blur.

The incoming kunai bounced off the swirling sword's steel effortlessly, rendering the attempt useless. "You're starting to disappoint me boy, I'd expect more of a fight from a Kazami."

Finding no annoyed grunt cross his well trained ears as a show of reply, he looked up to find that Shun had vanished mysteriously.

Anji's eyes closed momentarily, sighing at his grandson's determined attitude. He had been training the boy since morning yet still he had failed to lay a single scratch on him. 'Let's see if he's able to use this momentary slip up of mine to his advantage.'

With that thought in mind, Anji Kazami sat down, crossing his legged tauntingly, with his katana across his lap, in utter silence as he awaited the young ninja's next move. He contemplated on the angle of the next strike, using all five of his greatly heightened senses to pick up on any slight crack, sound or change in air pressure.

He was counting on one thing in this surprise attack… if he knew his Grandson well, which he did… then he would let his confidence get the best of him yet again. Secretly attuning his senses towards his environment, he waited patiently for the young Hotshot to act.

Shun, who had been secretly perched up a tree, made sure to keep carefully still as to not alert his Grandfather of his whereabouts as he stared intently at the old man's form, a confident smirk making its way across his face. He'd been counting on the old man to undermine his progress and judging by the meditative stance he'd took, he'd done just that.

His right hand had been placed carefully behind him, a thin strand of wires unseen due to the darkness of the night camouflaging the intricate design Shun had placed. The wires led to a fishnet, carefully incased in between the leaves, springing only at the flick of a finger onto the unsuspecting target to swallow it whole in its metallic grasp.

He knew he had to be absolutely perfect with the timing for this to work. Glaring tensely at the old man nearby his hiding spot, he started calculating the time it would take for the force to activate his well prepared trap. Remembering the time trick he pulled off with the Bakugan card earlier, his smirk grew arrogantly to greater heights.

'Everything's in place.' thought Shun sternly, the silence that spread across the field putting him slightly on edge as he kept his focus on the old age ninja. 'I've got to time this right; if I don't… then these slashes on my body will be the least of my problems.'

He relaxed his muscles, making sure to keep his breathing patterns regular, taking a last minute check up to verify if his traps were ready before gripping at the kunai in his pouch, the resolve in his eyes renewing at the prospect of being able to finally defeat his Grandfather on the field once and for all.

Anji, who had yet to show any signs of movements, smiled inwardly at Shun's improvement in silent treading. 'It seems he's gotten better… but…'

All of a sudden, a high speed blur came shooting out of a tree top, kunai in hand, aimed directly at Anji's head. Everything appeared to slow down at the scene unfolding until…

The old age ninja began to move at speeds that betrayed his elderly stature, as his form's movements were unseen to the untrained human eye.

Time had seemed to slow down right before Shun's eyes as standing upright whilst deflecting Shun's kunai with one hand, Anji brought down his blade swiftly as he securely gripped it in the palm of his hand which caused Shun's already wide eyes to double in size at where the strike was aimed for.

Directly behind him

A tearing sound could be heard echoing across the field as the fishnet concealed by the full moon's rays split in two, negating it's momentum, thus rendering the very trap useless as Shun crashed into the patch of grass, bouncing on impact before coming to a halt.

Shun slowly got up, only to sink down on one knee as he found himself smirking weakly, a small drip of blood escaping his bruised lip. He stared at the backside of his Grandfather, apparently frozen in a stance.

'Got him…'

His eyes widened in surprise at the feel of cold metal nearing dangerously against his throat a few moments later.

"Nice try boy but you've still got a lot to learn."

Anji Kazami held his blade steadily against the neck of the unsuspecting Shun, smiling smugly when Shun asked in a bewildered tone, "Bu-But how?"

"It was quite simple actually" started Anji, "When I had first heightened my senses, my ears picked up on the small breeze emitting across the trees, the first sign of your whereabouts came in the form of your fishnet's position incased within the leaves which caused them to rustle slower than usual compared to the breeze that went by. Considering that I wanted to humor you on your attempt, I kept myself from engaging you personally before actually seeing what it was that you could produce from being placed in a situation like that."

Seeing as Shun was still eying him with shock in his eyes, he decided to continue.

"Having noted myself on your whereabouts, I used my spare time to put my photographic memory to good use by analyzing that specific moment in time where I saw you leap high into the air, on what exactly was giving off such a faint glow in your pouch whilst you were in mid-air. I then realized that you were most probably hiding one of your prized 'Bakugan' cards and acted quickly by forming a replication without the use of a hand seal."

The replication turned around slowly to reveal in its mouth, a single kunai gripped in its jaw before spitting it out and popping out of existence with an equally smug grin as the original.

"Now what had me impressed was your calculations on setting off your traps at the exact moments to catch me off guard, seeing as how you knew I'd see through you first and second attempt, you carefully hid a second kunai to deploy at the very moment I brought my blade down. Now I don't know how exactly you were able to use that teleportation trick that card gave you but I had somehow suspected that you'd be able to place a kunai at ready in that short span of time which left my replica to count on our honed ninja instincts to catch out your last attack before it was able to impale itself into the side of its skull." finished the legendary ninja rather wisely.

Shun could only stare in bewilderment at the old man's incredible ability to analyze and interpret his movements, which left him to question how large the gap between him and his Grandfather's skill was.

Could he ever hope to end his gruesome and relentless hours of training? How he was ever going to get to the level of mastery his Grandfather was at, was a thought that pestered him ever since that damned day the old man had discovered that he was a so called 'genius' at the ninja arts.

So caught up in his thoughts was the young Kazami that he had failed to notice his Grandfather slowly remove the blade from his throat before sealing it back into its respective holding place, besides his waist band. 'He's been slightly off his game this week, I think it'll be best to give him the night off to recollect on his past mistakes during this exercise…'

Anji turned to walk away but not before stopping to mutter, "Training's over for today, go and rest for the time being, we've got a lot of theory on weaponry to catch up on tomorrow."

And with that, the wise ninja left to his humble abode.

Shun eventually stood up, gradually walking towards the other end of the field to where his single room wooden house with an empty look on his face.

He sighed tiredly as he closed the door behind him before taking off the ninja pouch on his left side, along with the fingerless black gloves he always adorned during practice.

Landing with a thump on the single sized bed he owned before turning to stare at the ceiling with the same longing look he'd been saving for every time he'd enter his room.

He would never understand why he was feeling this way, at least, that's what he'd tell himself. But it would always result to thoughts of that time where everything-

He closed his eyes, those annoying thoughts continued to linger in his head. Things were different from before and they were better that way, he had to grow stronger, so that one day he'd be able to find an equal in the form of his grandfather.

Because in reality, from the time his life was focused solely on Bakugan, he had never been able to find someone who shared his same ideals when coming to the creatures.

Coming across brawlers of different nationalities, each one taking it as just some sort of simple game, never considering the pain their Bakugan were willing to go through, just to keep their partners happy. 'When will I find someone who understands that the Bakugan, are not just some pawns for a game…'

"Shun…"

Said person turned his head to look at the small green object on his desktop table that had called him. He didn't reply. The being took it as a signal that he was listening.

"You seem troubled…"

The object seemed to be in the form of a ball as it sprang off the table, landing safely on Shun's chest in a semi-released state, it's top half being composed of a carved, two winged phoenix whilst the lower half was still set in a semi- spherical shape.

"Speak to me Shun…" she spoke sadly, "I cannot bear to see you this way."

Shun narrowed his eyes intensely, glaring at the ceiling as he spoke, "I don't know Skyress… It must be all the hard training getting to my head these days."

"Is that all?" asked Skyress curiously, sensing that her partner was leaving out something very important. "You've never had a problem with your training before, what seems to be so different now?"

He didn't reply.

Reluctantly closing his eyes, Shun decided to pay attention to the rustling leaves outside.

Skyress sighed at Shun's withdrawal from the conversation, choosing to let the boy be for the time being,

'Oh Shun…'

. . .

**Misaki Residence**

Runo had been smiling all night thanks to a certain grass head's sense of humor revolving around how silly brawlers dressed up when coming to competing in worldwide tournaments, remembering a certain joke on how one Aquas Brawler showed up wearing a cape and ended up winning the whole damn thing.

She didn't know why but she'd started to grow fond of the grass head's awkwardness, finding him to be different than most of the other boys who wanted her for her apparent beauty. She found it weird to be seen as girly to most guys, since she was so use to hanging out with them.

Considering that she was a girl, a good looking one at that, it sort of did make sense that the male populace was interested in her, it just didn't make sense that it was to such a point that fights broke out.

She didn't even have any form of interest for those boys, the only people she'd talk to at school being Ryo and that idiot Daniel.

They hadn't spoken to each other for awhile, Runo realized yet she stubbornly refused to be the first to start any form of communication, even after he apologized. She was still angry at him for thinking up such an idiotic prank, one involving a misguided and manipulated Ryo and a stupid love letter.

She was glad that Ryo took it so well, even though inside she knew that the boy still held feelings for her, she would stay friends with him in hopes that they, one day diminish and he'd be able to move on to find someone else.

She laughed, finding the story on the bald head Haos brawler's rise to fame to be ridiculous. Checking the time on her screen to reveal that it was 12: 47, she rubbed at her eyes tiredly, "Hehe… Sorry Ryo, I'm getting sleepy right about now and we've still got school to get to tomorrow" she yawned, "I'll see you at English okay?"

Ryo smiled, understanding that it was about time to hit the hay, "It's okay, I was about to suggest the same thing so it's cool, sleep tight."

Runo smiled appreciatively, "You too" She shut off her PC, walking over to her bed before snuggling in the covers with a content smile on her face.

Nearly reaching dreamy land, a sudden buzz went off next to her, staring at her phone confusingly, she reached for it reluctantly before answering without checking out the number of the caller who was bothering her so late at night.

"Hello?"

"…"

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously, she tried again.

"Hello?"

"…"

She started to feel frustrated, getting angrier at the fact that the voice on the other line refused to reply. Was this some kind of dumb joke? "Listen whoever you are, if this is some kind of stupid joke-"

"**You've got such a beautiful house.**" started a distorted voice, chuckling darkly, "**I wonder if it's as breathtaking on the inside…**"

Runo froze, a bad feeling growing in her chest at the stranger's words; she sucked in deeply, mustering up the courage to yell. "Don't call this number again you freak!"

She pressed down hard on the red button, ending the call before stuffing her phone under the pillow.

She frowned at her increased speed in heart rate, deciding to shrug it off as some dumb prank call from some bored idiot somewhere around the neighborhood. For all she knew, the idiot had just taken a line out of a movie to scare her.

The phone buzzed yet again, twice this time before keeping still as a means to indicate that it had just received a message.

Runo questioned whether or not it was a good idea to check on the message she'd just received on her phone before shaking her head and reluctantly reaching under the pillow, to check on who sent her a message, she gripped at her cell at the words unknown before opening the inbox to read what was sent.

She froze…

**Check your window…**

The feeling in her chest had intensified, the alarms in her head went off at the thought of what could lie behind her closed curtains, the fear at the fact that she had forgotten to close her window only adding to the paralyzing feeling in her limbs.

She opened a draw next to the bed, taking out a Field Card shakily, gripping it against her chest as she mustered up all the courage she had to climb out of bed.

She slowly stepped towards the curtain, the creaking of the tiles echoing across the deadly silence that enveloped her room as she hesitantly neared the curtain. Her instincts told her to turn back while her mind told her to tread forward in order to end her growing suspicions of what lied ahead.

She stood near the curtain, slowly outstretching her arm while gripping at the card in her other hand as she touched the cloth,

Step, 'Don't do it…'

Creak, 'Don't do it…'

She tugged at the curtain. 'Damnit! Don't do it'

Finally, she pulled at the curtain roughly, pausing to stare at the empty space in front of her, finding nothing to be a miss outside. She hurriedly closed the window, giving one last glance at the night air before closing her curtains and running off, into the bed covers.

Runo sighed in relief, "Just a stupid joke" she muttered.

. . .

Outside, atop Runo's room, perched on the edge of the roof, stood a mysterious figure. He held within his hand a small piece of paper which upon closer inspection, turned out to be a profile on someone familiar. "**Runo… Misaki**"

On the lone sheet of paper, contained confidential information around the Haos Brawler's heritage, social status, birth and other things yet to be seen.

Currently, the mysterious being had been checking up on the girl's list of relatives and associates or as they liked to call it, attachments.

Associated with the likes of:

Choji Marukura

Alice Gehabich

Shun Kazami

Julie Makimoto

And…

The being paused at the sentence that followed

Daniel Kuso

A cold smile grew on its face before it slowly stretching into a nasty snarl of a grin, a cold yet eccentric voice muttered,

"**May her blood taste sweet as the Seal falls…**"

. . .

**Oh what a cliffhanger! Hahaha, I'll leave you all to figure out the rest. By the way I decided to leave Dan out of this one, having this chapter focus more on Shun and Alice considering that the last two chapters were all about Dan and Runo's slowly developing relationship. **

**Hope you guys enjoyed this one and again sorry for being so late on the update, hope this chapter makes up for it though.**

**For those of you wondering, Anji is a name I gave the elderly Kazami myself seeing as in Wikipedia all you end up getting is 'Shun's Grandfather'. On another note…**

**Do not even TRY and accuse me of pulling a Naruto at the beginning, it is well known that the Bunshin(Replication) technique is a standard movement learnt by the shinobi of old times during the war of Japan years back. Only difference is, it was an illusionary based move to confuse the enemy when coming back from discovered assassinations so THERE.**

**Story Recommendations-**

**Picture Perfect by KaitlynShadowheart:** A take on what could have happened if the gang had decided to go to the amusement park Dan and Runo had been in when they had once brawled against the twins Kenta and Kenji. A Runo centric fiction that I find most of you will enjoy reading, lots of romance for a OneShot.

**I Love You by Sura3ChanxStrife**: A short and sweet One-Shot on whereby Runo asks Dan if he'd cry if she ever left him. The reason I like this one so much is because of the character development revolving around Dan, showcasing his amazing change from goofy and clumsy to serious and take charge.

**Obsession By Hikari Purinsu Jemuzu: **A unique fiction in whereby Masquerade develops an obsession (hence the title) for our very own Julie Makimoto. Definitely different compared to what I'm use to seeing on Baku fandom. I do believe this deserves way more reviews than its getting and would hope for you all to give it a chance whenever you have the time

**These are especially for fans who want to read something revolving around the first season's timeline so please pass a review to those stories when you have the time, us authors could really use the boost in moral.**

**Thanks for Reading, now Remember to Review**

**Aero out, *Disappears jumping into a rift created by a Doom Card***


	4. The Sealed Ability Card, Part 1

**Hey there everyone, seeing as I've failed completely at keeping up with my poorly planned updates... I'd just like to apologize for the long wait. Anyways here it is, the long awaited Fourth Chapter, now understand (if the summary hasn't been able to get this point across already) that an event is about to take place that will change Dan, Runo and everyone else's lives all together.**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bakugan, seriously though... if I did, a lot of crappy twists wouldn't have happened, It's bad enough that Anubias died *sniff*

. . .

**Chapter 4- The Sealed Ability Card, Part 1**

**. . .**

"Ability Card Activate: Fire Wall!"

A familiar burst of flames surrounded an equally familiar Pyrus Bakugan in a show of breath-taking intensity as Dan watched, eyes narrowed in sheer determination, as Saurus took to stabilizing the pressure of the Fire Wall.

They had been training for two weeks thus far, Dan constantly pushing himself as well as his Bakugan to their limits. He'd run four laps across the neighbourhood at the start of things, constantly fighting back the need to stop for air and endure the feeling of dying on a day to day basis.

His Bakugan would spar against each other, Dan using Abilities for both parties to allow them to push their limits and accumulate strength by beating themselves in or other Bakugan on those occasional challenges from Brawlers around his city.

Then of course came the most essential part of training, one that could only thus far be done with his one Bakugan, Pyrus Saurus.

It had been some time since Dan's battle against Ryo and since then, he'd always been focused on trying to tap into that connection with a minor success rate at this point.

But he wouldn't give up, this was something he cared about, something he'd have to learn, even if it meant getting nowhere for the last two weeks, he'd still persist, still try!

Like he promised...

'I have to get this right! Can't afford to take things easy!' He thought, eyes closing briefly in concentration as he tried for the thirty fifth time this week, to access that connection to Pyrus Saurus. 'Focus on the feeling you felt that day...'

…

**(...Flash...)**

"Oi Ryo!" Dan muttered loud enough, getting the grass head's attention as a look of determination crosses his face. "Here's something to remember next time we battle…"

Mantris' claws eventually broke through into the flaming cyclone, yet instead of the flames disappearing with the ability, its flames redirected into Saurus' mouth, forming an intensely comprised ball of spiralling Pyrus energy.

Ryo's eyes grew wide in shock, "But how?"

Dan stared directly into his eyes, a distant yet calm expression adorning his orbs as he continued from where he left off.

"Because you're looking at the one kid who believes in being a brawler more than anything… "

**(...End...)**

'Visualize and believe... '

He envisioned the Fire Wall's ever burning flames, dispersing for a moment, before reforming into a comprised spiralling ball of flames in Saurus' mouth, the energy from the flames causing the ball to grow exponentially in size, before bursting out into a gigantic beam of fire incinerating all in its path.

Dan's eyes snapped opened, utilizing the last of his will power to roar out into space as he called out to Saurus,

"Now!"

The Fire Wall wrapped around Saurus began to disperse in all directions before gathering in the Bakugan's now open mouth, forming a familiar spiral of fire, much to Dan's chagrin.

He sucked in a few shallow breaths before smirking to himself weakly, "we did it... Saurus..."

Saurus willed the energy to stabilize yet again before focusing on blasting the construct towards the empty space ahead. Nearing the fire ball's full power, the Bakugan could feel the strains from Dan's rigorous training begin to take effect as the Pyrus energy became a bit too much a strain.

Before Saurus could even have a remote collection of what had just occured, the Fire Ball's energy expanded greatly before exploding in his face, thus resulting in the Bakugan changing back into its ball form, falling over to the side of a shocked Daniel as the Field Closed around him in a blinding flash.

Dan stood frozen in the more tree-oriented parts of park, his mind rattling from the shock of what had happened to Saurus-

He turned reluctantly, looking down to find Saurus' form near him on the strangely scorched grass.

Without a seconds hesitation, he reached out to grab the Bakugan only to yell in agony at the heat waving off its form before grabbing at his hand to see slight burned marks on his glove, "What the…"

He looked down to Saurus, "Saurus, you okay there?"

The Bakugan did not reply, the heat only intensifying as a strange red aura formed around the ball.

Dan's eyes widened in shock, daring not to move a single muscle as the Pyrus Bakugan began to float into the air, the red aura's light growing as it illuminated the oak trees and grass around Dan.

Dan didn't know why he wasn't running as far away from his Bakugan as he possibly could. Something in his gut had felt wrong about doing that. He didn't want to leave his Bakugan so he…

He watched.

A mixed amount of fear and amazement clinging to him as the heat from earlier on started to take effect on him; he didn't care though because his Bakugan was floating in mid-air, something that shouldn't even be possible!

'It... It feels like something bad is about to happen, yet I can't move... Damnit! Move... ' he tried to will his limbs to move but it was as if a mysterious force was gripping at him from all sides, forcing him to endure the immense heat waves being directed towards him.

The surge grew, if not high enough, to critical as fire spread across the Bakugan's sealed ball form. As if invoking a chain, fire started spreading across the field, forming a circular ring around Daniel, burning down trees and grass all around.

Pyrus Saurus' balled form started to emit red energy as the flames intensified, ember spreading, as a pained roar came from its form. The sound seemed to startle Dan out of his hypnotized fit as his eyes darted to the floating sphere above him.

The Bakugan cried out again, causing Daniel to wince in what felt like pain, pain that wasn't physical as it struck at his heart.

The heat that was currently engulfing the small ball only added to how Dan was starting to feel helpless to hearing something so strained.

He didn't know why but a small tear threatened to fall from its peak at hearing yet another strained and agony filled cry.

'Saurus...'

A feeling started to grow inside him, flooding his senses and surprisingly overpowering the fear and trance like state he was in as he started to run towards his Bakugan, ignoring the unbearable heat stinging his skin as he leaped into the air whilst yelling the only name that he was concerned about at this very moment,

"Saurus!"

**. . .**

**Between Worlds- Vestroia**

"It's time..." muttered Apollonir, slightly anxious as to see the results of what was about to unfold. "Are we prepared?"

The other five Lords of Vestroia nodded in confirmation as they stared down their brethren, awaiting his next command.

The group gathered together, forming a self embodied circle, around what appeared to be a pure white card as it floated below them.

In the centre of the room, a sudden portal materialized below their feet.

The mysterious white card began to glow in resonance with the energy being generated below as it took a moment to stay motionless.

Finally, it dropped down into the portal, in a burst of ivory.

The portal closed shortly after, eliciting a silence amongst them as they pondered on how this could affect the two worlds and if it was for the better of all life on earth.

Lars sighed, trying to gain some sense of relief from the slight worry threatening to build up inside. "Now all that's left is for the Sealed Ability Card to find the one worthy enough to unseal it."

Exedra grumbled about something, sounding bitter before turning to Apollonir, "You'd better hope that there's a human out there that's actually 'worthy' of the Seal."

Apollonir gave a stoic stare, not liking the Darkus Lords tone. "It will."

"How can you be so sure?" asked Oberus, feeling a bit reluctant himself to the statement.

"Because..." started Frosch, making sure he had everyone's attention. "I'd specifically programmed the Seal to track down a boy with the Bakugans' best interests at heart. "

Lars Lion raised a brow, curious as to the Aquas Lord's statement, "Oh? And who would that be?"

Frosch let a ghost of a smile slip onto his face at the question before uttering,

"... K-"

**. . .**

As soon as the name had slipped from his mouth, the energy around the sphere pulsed for the last time before bursting out into a massive explosion of fire that incinerated the trees all around and ground beneath it, leaving the landscape completely scorched as large amounts of smoke lifted into the dealt damage.

There was no pain.

No sound.

No movement.

Just… nothing

Dan, who had been caught in the blast, blinked a few times before begrudgingly retaining consciousness. He looked around frantically, being able to see nothing but white around him.

His first thoughts were revolved around questioning if he were alive at the moment seeing as he had just been caught in what he felt was an agonizing piece of hell.

He brought his hand to his nose, experimenting by breathing on it, feeling the familiar hot air graze his gloved palm as he then sighed in relief before quickly narrowing his eyes, he was alive but then,

How?

His clothes had been torn, the short sleeved signature red jacket he'd always had on was incinerated, along with the right parts of his yellow no sleeved shirt which revealed a nasty bruise on his shoulder.

The right side of his pants were torn around the lower knee, revealing burned skin that stopped at his ankle. His beloved goggles were torn in two, the glass see-through on both parts, shattered by the force of the impact and a large burn mark across the right side of his cheek.

"Where am I?" he spoke to nothing but empty space, his voice echoing across, frustrating him as he found himself yet again unable to move. The situation seemed better compared to what he had just went through, being that he was able to speak and move his limbs now instead of have his jaw clamped shut and being frozen on the spot.

A chill when through him as he suddenly recollected what had just happened.

Him activating the Fire Wall ability which seemed more powerful than the previous times he'd used it.

The Red energy that engulfed Saurus as he finally felt them nearing their goal.

That spiralling ball of stark red energy mixing with the flames of Fire Wall before comprising into a powerful sphere of fire.

Failing to control the mass amounts of generated flames as the power blew up in their faces.

The trees burning as Saurus' cries of help echoed passed his ears.

The explosion that set off moments later as Dan watched helpless as he then found himself caught up in the impact.

Saurus...

His eyes widened in horror, "Saurus!"

His eyes darted from left to right, searching for any signs of the Pyrus Bakugan in the strange light. He couldn't bring himself to think about the possibilities of death, having expected to die by such a fierce explosion, still finding it hard to believe he was alive.

Silence greeted him.

He frowned before growling to the top of his lungs,

"SAURUS!"

After a minute or so, he finally calmed down, crimson seeming lifeless at the conclusion.

Saurus was gone.

He looked to his side, slowly raising his arms as he observed the burned marks on his elbows, cringing at some of the burned flesh. Sorrow glazed over his normally bright eyes, as he came to the realization that it was over...

"Mom... Dad..."

Thoughts of not being able to sit and eat dinner with his parents anymore crossed his mind, his mother's loving smile as she set the food on the table or his dad's gleaming eyes as pudding was served for desert, that crazy old man.

"Runo..."

He then thought of the tempered blunette, of how he should have said sorry, of how he should have talked to her these two weeks instead of cuting off communication with everyone other than his parents, even if it was for training.

"Saurus"

His Bakugan, was most probability dead and it was his fault. If he had known that trying to train him into tapping the energy would result in such an untimely demise, he would have never started training to begin with.

The guilt had got to him.

"Maybe that's why I don't feel any pain as I move around anymore... I must be dead..."

A serene sound made its way to his ears from the right, yet the sudden noise didn't startle him as he looked up to see whether or not something was floating down towards him.

Empty crimson orbs found themselves looking towards nothing.

He didn't try to float back as the distance between him and the noises only grew closer.

He didn't even try to move as the possible danger grew nearer.

He only after a moment raised his brows as the object revealed to be...

"An Ability Card..." he muttered, not sure what to think anymore as he watched the card loom over him, stopping in front of his face.

He didn't gape at it as he couldn't feel anything anymore.

Energy burst from the card, energy he felt that was immeasurable yet something else caught his attention. The colour of the card was

... White

"I've never seen an Ability Card like this." muttered Dan, nothing but regret could be heard within his tone.

"**That's because it's sealed.**"

Dan's head slowly budged to the side in order to check if anything was there. Unfazed by the fact that nothing was there.

"**Listen to its call Daniel...**"

There it was again, louder than before though, and strangely serene, he found himself looking towards the Ability Card yet again, this time feeling more allured to touch it.

'Why is it... that I want to touch it so bad?' he questioned himself as his hand slowly rose from his side, moving to touch the Card.

It grew closer and Daniel couldn't help but feel something grow in him.

Was it anxiousness?

If so, would he get away from it all?

He felt drawn to it and a familiar feeling dawned upon him, the feeling of change, the very same feeling he'd felt two weeks ago.

He wondered briefly what would happen if he so much as grazed the card.

Would everything change?

Was change something he was ever fond of?

Last time it happened, things ended badly but what if this was a second chance?

Change never seemed to be a good thing yet..

… yet one good thing did come across because of change.

The Bakugan

Life had been meaningless for him back then, the exception being he had people who cared about him yet still it left a gap inside, one too hollow for a boy as young as Daniel to ever have in the first place.

The lack of purpose, that's what he called it.

And here he was, floating in between some strange light dimension, not sure if he had survived a fierce explosion that in retrospect would've cost him life, with his pointer finger but an inch away from touching the Sealed Ability Card.

"**You promised you'd never give up, didn't you?**"

He paused at that, frown firm on his face.

Finally, he narrowed his eyes, closing the gap without a moment's hesitation and…

Nothing?

The card shimmered lightly and Daniel Kuso, Pyrus Brawler and self proclaimed future Champion of the Bakugan, could only go wide-eyed at what happened next.

**. . .**

**Park- Wardington**

"What just happened?!" asked Marucho, shock clearly evident on his face as he gaped at the large explosion that had just erupted within the park.

Kato, Marucho's personal butler, could only gape in response before narrowing his eyes apprehensively at the scene, "I'm not exactly sure Master Marucho but I advise that we get out of here before that fire spread-"

The butler was cut off by a sudden shake of the ground from below, staring at the young Master in horror as it quickly dawned on him that they were about to experience an earthquake. He tumbled forward, sluggishly grabbing onto the now fear-stricken Marucho as he pulled out a remote from his pocket and pressed at the red alert button.

Marucho tried to steady himself against Kato, failing miserably as he fell down on his butt, hard. "Kato we need to get out of here!"

"Already on it Master Marucho" replied Kato, just as he'd finished that sentence, a large crack appeared beneath his and Marucho's feet, causing the two to yell as they started plummeting into darkness.

Marucho out of sheer instinct, had grabbed onto the edge of a small piece of exposed rock, wincing at the pain as his palm throbbed. He looked down to see that he'd been able to catch the wrist of his butler and mentor, Kato and sighed in relief.

"Master Marucho," muttered Kato, a solemn look on his face that spoke of something that Marucho couldn't quite understand, that was until he spoke, "You have to let me go... the weight would be too much for you."

Marucho's eyes widened as he stared into Kato's calm orbs, "I can't do that Kato!"

The elderly butler smiled sadly, "You have to Master Marucho"

The boy shook his head, tears beginning to form in his eyes as he stared down the elderly man that was willing to sacrifice himself for his life, "Kato please..."

Kato, with the last of his strength, reached for Marucho's wrist with his other hand before smiling genuinely at the young lad.

"It was a pleasure being your butler Master Marucho."

Marucho wanted to protest, scream at him, anything to stop him from doing what he was about to do but it all went on deaf ears.

He felt his heart stop the moment Kato forced his wrist to squeeze out of his reach, feeling time slow down as he watched the elderly man plummet into the darkness but not before seeing Kato give him a thumbs up as he disappeared.

**. . .**

**(Kuso Residence- Ten Minutes prior)**

"And that's all for today folks! Tune in next week for our Desert Special: Vanilla Pudding Deluxe!"

Shinjiro, who had been sitting on the couch in the living room watching the brand new and upcoming cooking show with his wife Miyoko, currently had stars in his eyes. "Did you see all that spectacular pudding!? Oh how wonderful life will be when we finally get that recipe!"

Miyoko could only sigh in response to her husband's obsession with pudding. It would be a dark day when the world decided to finally cut off his pudding supply; she smiled wryly at the thought. "Oh dear... I wish you'd calm down once in awhile, with all that pudding in your system, it's a miracle your still able to move on a daily basis."

Shinjiro laughed a bit before suddenly growing serious with his next words, "Miyoko... You know as well as I do that my love for the divine and alluring flavour of pudding, made by the very gods themselves, can never... Be quenched! " animated flames had burst out of his eyes, replacing his pupils as he now stood on the couch, balling his right fist into the air.

Miyoko could only sweat drop at the scene unfolding before her, the fact that she was the only sane being in the household had now dawned on her. How she could live with two energetic boys in the house was a mystery no one would be able to solve.

An idea popped up in the depths of Miyoko's mind, making her smile a bit in unfathomed glee, Daniel wasn't home today and would be back by curfew, which was five hours from now...

Perfect.

"You never have that fire in your eyes when you look at me." Complained Miyoko, eyes narrowed as she stood and glared at Shinjiro in fake rage, hoping he'd buy it.

As expected, Shinjiro started sweating profusely as he too stood up, hoping- praying that he'd avoid a beat down, "Oh Honey, you know I love you!"

Miyoko raised a brow as she crossed her arms, "More than the pudding?"

Shinjiro sweat had subsequently doubled, internal debates on whether his pride and joy Miyoko, outranked the divine pudding he always dreamed off, making its way to his mind.

But how could he chose?! Pudding was such a divine temptation, having had this obsession even before he had met Miyoko in Wardington High, told him that his first choice should be pudding.

Yet Miyoko, the light of his life, the sunshine in the rain, the warm jacket that shielded his heart from the fierce winds of cold winter, the ice in his cre-

"Shinjiro!" yelled a now enraged Miyoko, a light blush on her cheeks, as she glared at her husband, pointing an accusing finger at him. "You were actually considering it, weren't you!?"

Shinjiro unknowingly, took a step back in the direction of the door, alarms going off in his head as he stared in bewilderment, at his clearly upset wife. A part of him though couldn't help but notice how cute she looked, all pouty and hands on her enticing hips.

A plan formed in his head suddenly, whether on instinct or rising influences from the perverted side of his brain, he couldn't help but go for it as it was a risk he liked all the same. Even though the down side to that failed attempt would result to disastrous consequences for his family jewels.

Miyoko walked up to him, poking him on the chest accusingly, not noticing the small smirk on his face as their faces grew closer, "Well then, don't expect any 'desert' tonight!"

Shinjiro's smirk stayed in place, not the least bit affected by the threat, as his face was suddenly inches apart from Miyoko. "Don't really care about that right now, I'm sure I'll find something to... compensate for that."

Miyoko's brows furrowed in confusion, "What are you ta-"

She was cut off by Shinjiro placing his lips onto hers in a slightly pressured kiss. Her eyes grew wide at the gesture, being caught off guard, before sighing happily into the kiss as her eyes closed. He still had that magic of his, that Shinji.

She felt powerful arms wrap around her as she placed her hands on his shoulders in a tender fashion.

Reluctantly, Miyoko pulled back, much to Shinjiro's displeasure as he indicated by groaning. Miyoko was sure her eyes were glazed as she blushed while trying to glare at her husband,

"This doesn't change anything."

Shinjiro could only smile lovingly at his wife, "Of course it doesn't dear."

Just as the two were about to reengage into a kissing frenzy, the ground beneath them started to shake violently, causing the furniture and cutlery to tumble and fall all around. Various thuds and shatters were heard across the household as Miyoko clung to Shinjiro as they tumbled to the ground in a heap, the carpet floors lessening the impact as Shinjiro held onto his wife.

Miyoko's eyes widened, showing fear that unnerved Shinjiro a great deal, "Shinjiro we have to get out of here!"

Shinjiro picked himself and his wife up in haste, worry suddenly taking in at an alarmed rate as they started to race to the garage.

They spotted the car and hurriedly went in, Miyoko gripping on the remote as it opened the garage. Shinjiro stepped on the gas, changing into first gear rather quickly as the car then burst through into the streets.

As soon as the two had made it outside, a thought had entered both simultaneously and caused a cold chill to run up their spines, both their thoughts heading back to the image of a brown haired boy with a grin on his face.

Miyoko could only tremble as Shinjiro's eyes narrowed dangerously. He had to find his son.

He had to find Dan...

**. . .**

**The Park**

He stayed rotted to the ground, bewildered at what was happening around him.

The ground was literally shaking, tearing through terrain and everything.

Through all the chaos that was unfolding. He muttered these words.

"This wasn't suppose to happen…"

He could tell that the city was being hit with a violent earthquake and there was only one person to blame.

He'd expected a lot of things when he'd grazed that card.

Heaven

Hell

Coming back to life maybe

This though, wasn't one of them.

Dan's lips were parted as he watched the Ability Card float high into the air, its glow growing fiercer as strange shards started gathering around it in mid air.

The shards were made of a familiar aura; in fact it was the very same colour as when the Field Card would-.

His crimson pupils shrunk, an unknown feeling suddenly coming across him and as if to make matters worse.

An enormous vortex had suddenly opened in the central of Wardington City, the sound of sirens drifting past him could barely reach his ears as his focus was on the Ability Cards in his pouch, along with the two Pyrus Bakugan he had left, suddenly float into the air.

He watched in silence as they glowed white before shattering unexpectedly in a show of white energy, reassembling back moments after, into a multitude of shards.

They all seemed to be drawn to the vortex along with the millions of shards that seemingly followed as the shaking finally stopped.

The vortex was still present as orbs of lights started descending, stopping around the now unsealed Ability Card before shooting out at the speed of light, travelling across the globe to designated areas of the world.

The last of the orbs had shot out into a powerful burst of energy, breaking the sound barrier as they headed straight for the park, one headed right for Daniel who could only stay rotted as it came inches within his body before engulfing the Brawler in a bright light.

The last thing he saw was a pair of fierce emerald eyes glaring right into him.

**. . .**

**To Be Continued...**

**. . .**

**Sorry for taking so long to update this, being the youngest guy in your college can do a lot of bull for you. I've noticed a lot of Guest Reviews that have constantly been asking me to update my profile so I'd like to explain as to why that can't happen at the moment.**

**See I'm what you call a mobile user, meaning every time I'm on the site, I'm accessing it via my phone. Now due to an economic repression my country suffered a few years ago, my family started losing money and this and that happened**

**Now this isn't a sob story, I'm just stating the facts.**

**Hope that helped with explaining the situation and as always,**

**Read and Review!**


	5. The Sealed Ability Card, Part 2

**Thanks again for all the reviews everyone! **

**To think that this story started out with only four reviews and grew into this!**

**By the way, there's something very important to take note of at the end of the chapter, be sure to check this out as it is a onetime offer.**

**Disclaimer: **Aero'Phoenix does not own Bakugan, maybe in a parallel universe?

…

**Chapter 5- The Sealed Ability Card, Part 2**

...

"Daniel..."

It was a distorted sound, mostly blurry but easy to comprehend.

"Daniel, Wake up..."

He found it hard to blink, let alone move so he could address whoever was calling for him.

"DANIEL KUSO! YOU WAKE UP THIS INSTANT!"

With a choked sob, Dan shot out of the covers as his eyes scanned sharply for anything odd around him.

Miyoko frowned. "Daniel, if you don't get out of bed soon you'll end up being late for school."

Dan froze at the voice, which didn't go unnoticed to Miyoko as she watched him stare at her as if she'd grown a second head. She walked over to the side of the bed and placed a hand on his forehead. "Sweetie, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost. "

Dan couldn't speak. He couldn't believe it. His mom was okay and she was right there, next to him.

"Daniel?"

He blinked, finally able to shake off the trance like stupor he was in and did the only thing logical.

He hugged her.

Miyoko's eyes widened at her son's sudden gesture. Her features relaxed as she felt the boy under her start to tremble and couldn't help but hug him back. A small smile made its way onto her face.

"Did you have a nightmare?"

Dan stayed uncharacteristically silent at the question, finding it hard to believe that he was alive. "I'm not sure." He finally answered.

He stilled a bit as something struck odd to him. He pulled back a bit to check out his surroundings. He was in his room, no doubt, and everything seemed to be in place.

Dan pulled away from the hug, much to Miyoko's confusion as she watched him head for the window. "Daniel, what's wrong?"

Dan decide dto ignore her. Pulling at the drapes to get a clear view of the outside world, he went wide eyed at the fact that there was no damage whatsoever to the city.

No cracks on the streets.

No trees burnt down.

No vortex in the sky.

Nothing…

But how was that even possible? He was sure that everything was being destroyed by that card he'd been so stupid to touch.

So why was it that his mother was acting like nothing happened.

He turned back to her with thoughtfulness in his eyes. "Mom, what happened while I was asleep?"

Miyoko raised a brow at the question, finding it strange that he wanted to know that. "I'm not sure honey, I woke up an hour ago and everything was fine. That reminds me, we have to get you to school young man!"

Dan felt his eyes budge out of his sockets. "Wait a second mom! Didn't you see that vortex out of the sky yesterday!?"

Miyoko's eyes flashed with confusion. "Vortex? Honey, you sure you weren't having a nightmare?"

Dan frowned as he started wondering if it was really a nightmare.

It had to be real. There's no way he'd have a nightmare that ended up lasting for him a whole two weeks.

A light bulb flashed in his head.

"Give me a sec Mom. Let me check out something." answered Dan, moving towards his desk, he gaped at not being able to find what he was looking for and started searching frantically.

Miyoko's patience was reaching an all time high as she waited for her son to find what he was looking for. When she looked at her watch and went wide eyed at the time, she wasted no time in pinching Dan's ear and pulling him out of the room.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"

Miyoko ignored the boy's screams of agony as she hurled him into the bathroom before locking the door with her outside. "You've got five minutes to bath, three to get dressed and two to jump into the car before I give you the beating of a lifetime, ARE WE CLEAR YOUNG MAN?"

Miyoko smiled; satisfied at the Mmhmm she got out of the boy before making her way to the car.

'Seriously though, a vortex? ' thought Miyoko wearily. She started shaking her head as she then headed down to her car.

'What kind of nightmare did that child have?'

...

**Gates of Wardington Primary**

"Have a nice day at school hun!"

Dan watched helplessly as his mom sped off to her workplace.

A lot of things weren't making sense right now. Sure he was glad that no one was hurt but something was horribly wrong.

An hour ago, when he'd woken up from his supposed nightmare, he realised two things.

One, his Bakugan along with their ability cards were missing.

And two, when he'd went to check out the Bakugan site online, he was left speechless by the fact that the website apparently didn't exist.

Those two facts alone made him realize that something strange was going on.

He would've continued musing if it weren't for the school bell bringing him of his thoughts.

He turned back with a frown. He didn't know how but he'd have to find out what exactly was happening around here and knew that there was only one person who could help him find out.

"I have to find Marucho!"

...

"Dan!"

Said boy paused in mid-run to glance back at the voice that shouted out to him from across the hallway.

"Runo?"

"Is there any other?" She retorted smugly before raising a brow at Dan's stupefied gaze. "Earth to Dan? Hey you hit your head on the way here or something? "

Dan blinked. He suddenly gazed at Runo with interest, something that made her want to blush, though she made sure to not show it. "Uhm... Not to sound like a jerk but..." Dan glanced to the side before looking back to meet her eyes. "Why are you talking to me?"

Runo frowned. The question was well... unexpected. "Well... because we're... friends?"

Dan didn't know what to think of all this. First the world nearly came to an end, something he still blamed himself for.

Then came the incident in his room where his Bakugan disappeared.

Now Runo was talking to him?

Wasn't she still mad at him for that dumb prank he pulled?

Dan was unexpectedly brought out of his thoughts by a smack to the head, courtesy of one fuming Runo. "Knock it off you doofus! We're gonna be late for class!" she proceeded to pull him by his arm.

Dan struggled for awhile before reluctantly resigning to his fate. He let out a sigh as Runo pulled him into a class. "Fine, as long as we find Marucho, I'm game."

Runo raised a brow curiously. "Marucho?"

Dan gaped yet again. "You have got to be kidding me!"

Runo let go of Dan's arm before she pushed him down his seat. She walked over to her desk behind him, sitting down before turning to face him. She humoured him. "Okay Dan, I'll humour you, who exactly is this Marucho?"

This was getting out of hand. Why was it that Runo was acting so strange? "Runo... please tell me you're joking?"

Runo was sceptical. Something was off with Daniel, she didn't know what it was but she was going to find out. "No I'm not. I actually don't know who this Marucho person is."

Dan wanted to yell out to whatever god there was out there to stop toying with his heads. His jaw clenched as his head fell, making him stare down the floor for a long while. This was all too much to take in and if he didn't get any information fast he was going to lose it.

A thought came to mind as he blinked for a second before looking up to find Runo staring at him with concern written all over her face. "What day is it?"

"Uhm... Monday" Runo narrowed her eyes contemplatively as she glanced to the side before looking back. "The 2nd of July."

Runo watched with wide eyes as Dan froze in front of her. Alarms started sounding in her head as she watched his body slowly tilt off to the side.

It was as if everything had slowed down momentarily as he fell to the floor, mocking her as she became horrified at the sight of his crimson irises seeming to lose life.

She rushed over to his side in an instant followed off by everyone else at the notice of the commotion and Runo couldn't help but shake his shoulders helplessly, trying to get him to wake up as an involuntary shiver made its way up her spine.

She didn't register the scream that came after as it was too late to stop her from crying out to an attempt to bring him back to reality.

"DAN!"

...

His vision blurred if only for a minute before images began to register.

It was dark, infinitely dark as there appeared to be no landscape to stand on, no fires to find warmth from, not even the strange colours that represented the space between worlds in the home he'd come to know as Vestroia.

His large eyelids fluttered slowly, the large slit between his emerald irises steadily coming into view, as he struggled to get a better glimpse of wherever he was.

He looked down to his claws as they suddenly retracted as if alerted for the use of battle against an incoming threat. He had yet to understand what was going on around him, finding himself growling out in irritation as he stood alone in this dark empty space.

"Where am I?" He more or less growled out as his back arched out in order to spread his enormous wings.

The silence was only disturbed by the distant echo of his roar as he struggled to get his bearings on where exactly he'd ended up. The entity finally kept quiet as his initial frustration shimmered down.

"How'd I end up here?" He asked himself, noticing how his steel-like red skin illuminated certain parts of the darkness around him. It was confusing, especially for a Dragonoid like himself.

He wanted to remember, no... He needed to remember what happened before arriving here.

His eyes widened, memories flooding in one by one.

Flying towards the chaos that had suddenly transpired and recalling being knocked to the rocky terrain that made up a piece of Pyrus Space.

Acknowledging, that he'd come toe to toe with a Darkus Fear Reaper, which confused him greatly, as there was no way for Darkus Bakugan to reach Pyrus Space whatsoever., also recalling that he didn't have time to ponder on the creature's sudden appearance as it charged towards him with murder in its eyes.

He then remembered knocking the Bakugan unconscious as he spotted a familiar White silhouette entering what looked to be a portal before chasing after it only to be blown into the portal's spiral as the White Bakugan emitted a strange yet powerful energy before letting the built up pressure, release.

Suddenly, the Pyrus Dragonoid let out a fearsome roar as scorching flames shot out of its mouth in pure rage. Only after a few minutes did the Bakugan stop, his jaw clenching in rage as he tried to understand why that damned Dragonoid would do something like that.

"Naga... What have you done?" Drago questioned to only himself as he stayed trapped in this hollow darkness.

He felt uneasy as he realised he was all alone...

...

"They're here right?"

A light breeze passed by two silhouettes that stood over a hill, watching over a school nearby.

One had blood red hair that seemed to defy gravity as it hung wildly in the air. He wore a bright blue coat with a short sleeved red undershirt as well as black jeans that hung loosely around his ankles. His sneakers were a mixture of white and cobalt blue.

He carried a smug grin as he turned towards his associate. "The ones we're suppose to test out?"

The being in question next to him smirked as he looked onwards towards the building complex known as Wardington Primary.

He wore a coat similar to the boy next to him, the only difference being that his was white in colour. He wore dark purple jeans along with a no sleeved black undershirt which top halve was covered by a reinforced chest plate. A glass mask adorned his face, hiding his facial features as his blond hair too, seemed to take defiance towards gravity. His sneakers were pure black.

"Definitely" answered the blond. Turning back towards the direction they came in, he opened what appeared to be a portal with but only his finger. "Although we won't want to draw attention to ourselves, I suggest we wait it out till they come out for recess."

He disappeared into the portal the next moment, leaving the red head behind to grunt in disapproval. "Like these guys have any potential at all."

He glanced back to the portal, noticing that his partner was gone. He still kept his grin though as he stuffed his hands into his trousers, turning back to follow his partner's direction into a portal. "I guess I'll just have to teach these losers a lesson. One that says I'm the best!"

He disappeared into the portal. Not the least bit worried about being scolded by his superiors for being late.

...

**Hallway**

Runo was worried.

She'd just gotten back from the nurse's office to check on how Dan was doing only to be told that he was fine as nothing seemed to be wrong with him. The school's nurse had told her that he was most likely suffering from dehydration and would just need some water when he woke up.

Runo wasn't buying it though. Dan was acting strange. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he felt as if everything around him was wrong.

-Why are you talking to me?-

She narrowed her eyes at the memory, frowning as she suddenly bumped into someone by accident.

Runo stumbled back before quickly regaining her posture. She was prepared to yell at whoever had bumped into her before blinking at the clumsy look of embarrassment the grass head had in front of her.

"I'm so sorry!" he quickly mumbled, moving to pick up his glasses and what looked a book bag. "I was in a rush to get this to the nurse's office you see and wasn't watching where I was-"

He blinked as the girl he'd bumped into was none other than Runo, the very girl he'd been crushing on since she'd got here.

Runo seemed to be confused till she realised that the guy was carrying Dan's bag.

She flashed a smile as she got down, helping him pick it up the bag which in turn caused the boy to stutter.

"Sorry about bumping into you, my head was somewhere else." She looked at the book bag. "That's Dan's bag right?"

"Y-yeah."

"I'll take it to the nurse's office for you if you don't mind."

He blinked for a moment before nodding. "Well I guess that's okay. Th-thanks." He seemed to contemplate something before bringing out his slightly shaking hand. "I'm Ryo."

Runo gave him aninnocent look over before shaking his hand in return. "I'm Runo, nice to meet you." she then stood up and turned away whilst still keeping her eyes on him. "I'll head over to the office now. See you around."

She took off after that, not noticing the dreamy smile on his face.

...

**Back at the nurse's office...**

Dan had just woken up with a choked sob as a massive headache ate at him.

Everything was blurry as he felt himself cover his eyes with the palm of his hands as he shot up from the bed he was resting on. He breathed in deeply, sucking in air until he could calm down.

This wasn't time to be freaking out, he told himself. As bad as things were going, this just wasn't time to be freaking out.

He let his arms fall to his sides as his eyes slowly fluttered open to reveal crimson orbs staring cautiously around him.

"Okay Dan, calm down. You took a few deep breaths, now you can try to figure things out." He told himself.

He looked around and realised that he was in an office as the white ceiling above proved too bright for his eyes.

A few begrudging minutes later.

Dan finally felt composed as to where he was and what had happened to him a while ago.

It was nearing one, which meant that he was out of it for about four to five hours. Which wouldn't have been a bad thing considering that he didn't have to get to class.

The problem though, was that no one seemed to remember what the Bakugan were.

That and that recently he'd just found out that he'd somehow travelled back to the day Runo had nearly strangled the life out of him. Not to mention that today was suppose to be the day he fought against Ryo in a one on one Bakugan brawl moments later at lunch for tricking him into asking out Runo.

"This has got to be the worst day of my life." Dan muttered. A bitter chuckle escaped his throat. "The Bakugan don't exist anymore..."

A tap on the glass window besides him took him out of his momentary musing.

His head snapped towards the direction of the knock, eyes widening at the sight.

On the other side of the glass appeared to be a boy with wild red hair who held a predatory grin as Dan focused solely on the card he was holding between his fingers.

A Black Gate Card.

"Sup."

The red head kept grinning at the astonished look on Dan's face. "You wouldn't happen to be Dan Kuso, would you?"

Dan didn't know if it was better to keep quiet or ask the question that had him suspicious. He'd have to take the latter. "How do you know my name?"

The red head shrugged. "Good guess?"

Dan narrowed his eyes at the guy. He didn't know who this guy was but something felt bad about him. What was worse was that he had a Gate Card.

"Too good a guess."

A tense silence fell between them.

The red head's grin was still etching across his face with unrivalled arrogance whilst Dan's curious stare morphed into a suspicious glare.

The final bell sounded yet both individuals didn't let their eyes off each other for a second in this stare off.

"Hey Dan, you awake yet?" came a voice from behind the office's door. Dan glanced for a second at the opening door before turning to glare at the mysterious red head only to find that he was gone.

"Huh..."

Runo, who had just come in, was happy to see that her friend had regained consciousness. She frowned though when she noticed that he was looking for something outside the window. Worse was that he was ignoring her.

"Dan?"

Dan frowned. Whoever that was, was carrying a Gate Card with him, which meant that somehow he wasn't crazy! Meaning that all that crap that happened in that dream was actually real!

Dan felt an iron vice-like grip on his shoulders and was unexpectedly pulled back by a now pissed off Runo.

"Stop ignoring ME!"

She took a few deep breaths after that, grip still on Dan before glaring at him with a mixture of hurt in her eyes.

"What the heck's been going on with you today!"

Dan cringed, a mixture of fear and hurt flashed in his eyes at seeing Runo worry over him like this. "Runo I-"

"You keep on ignoring me every time I ask if you're okay!"

"I'm sorry it's just-"

"I mean its bad enough that you just fainted in class awhile ago!"

"Runo listen-"

"And just now I caught you looking outside as if you've just seen some kind of ghost! Don't you think it's wrong to just ignore everyone trying to-"

"RUNO LISTEN TO ME!"

She paused at Dan's outburst, momentarily surprised at his stern stare as he grabbed her wrist and pulled up his bag. "I need you to come with me somewhere quick and I'll explain everything to you, okay?"

Dan didn't wait for her answer as he pulled open the door and waited for her to pass with a pointed look.

Runo grumped before picking up her bag. She headed out the office but not before making sure to glare at Dan. "Fine! But you've got a lot of explaining to do when we get there."

Dan closed the door with a sigh, slinging his bag onto his shoulder as he did so. He walked alongside Runo, a sense of seriousness in his eyes.

"Don't I know it..."

...

**Wardington Park**

"And that's when that guy came up to the window in the nurse's office."

Runo had been listening in attentively for the past five minutes as Dan explained to her about the Bakugan, a vortex and some red head showing up outside of the nurse's office.

"So let me get this straight." Runo started. "You're telling me you somehow travelled back to the past, from a future where these creatures known as 'Bakugan' existed. Not only that but somehow you ended up touching some card that ending up opening a vortex that sent you here..."

Dan kept Runo's appraising stare, trying his best to make her understand he was telling the truth.

She continued. "So after waking up in your bed this morning, you came to school to look for this Marucho and instead found me. You fainted and then woke up again in the nurse's office only to find some weird red head staring at you with what looked like a 'Gate Card'?"

He didn't expect Runo to believe in what he was saying. It hurt for some reason though as he thought back to everything. He couldn't help the doubt surfacing in his head, making wonder if he was losing it.

Dan sighed, feeling defeated. "Now that you mention it, I do sound crazy..."

Runo would've patted him on a back to comfort him and tell him that its okay, just one of those bad dreams, if it weren't for that deep flash of sorrow that pooled in his crimson at calling himself crazy.

That was a look she'd never seen on anyone before.

A look someone as young as Dan shouldn't have etched on their face.

It was a look that told of someone who had lost a part of soul and realised that they'd never be able to get it back no matter how much hard they tried.

Runo frowned sadly. "Dan..."

He didn't budge as he stared at the floor, feeling empty all of a sudden.

Runo found herself doing the one thing she never thought she had the guts to.

She hugged him.

Crimson orbs came to life as his eyes widened in surprise at the feel of slender arms wrapping themselves around his neck. He noticed with apprehension as Runo's sky blue hair tickled the side of his neck.

Her head rested on his shoulder as she tightened the hug hesitantly. Feelings she didn't even realise she had, surfaced out of her as she couldn't take seeing him this way.

"I don't care what it takes to do it… But I'll give anything to take away that look in your eyes."

Dan stilled at the contact if only for a moment. Mixed feelings rushed at him at once as he reluctantly wrapped his arms around Runo's waist. He felt the girl shiver and had a strange feeling it wasn't due to the breeze that had just decided to pass by.

They both relaxed into it eventually.

Something about the way Runo had said that to him just… felt right. If there was one thing he was thankful for throughout this whole fiasco, it was that him and Runo weren't ignoring each other the way they did. He only had one thing left to say.

"Sorry."

Runo didn't have the courage to pull back as she had no idea what had gotten into her, the only thing important was that Dan didn't feel alone.

Dan stirred from the hug to the sound of clapping nearby.

He looked up to find out where the noise was coming from and proceed to pound whoever it was that had a bad sense of humour.

Runo being startled, quickly let go with a light blush on her face as she turned back to glare at whoever interrupted them.

Two pairs of eyes widened at the sudden feel of weight on their shoulders as an invisible pressure developed in the air causing a slight rumbling sound to reach their ears and form small ripples in the air.

Runo sank to her knees at the heavy weight, breathing suddenly laboured.

Dan fell to a knee as he slowly trudged towards the fallen girl. "Runo!"

Runo didn't reply, breath hitched as she stared helplessly at the person approaching them.

Dan heard footsteps near towards them as he slowly looked up into the eyes of the boy from earlier, hands in his trousers with that same dark grin on his face as he stopped a few paces in front of them.

"I forgot to introduce myself earlier." Intoned the red head, eyes glinting with malice. "Names Shugimaru"

Dan felt dread enter his being at the boy's next words.

"I'm here to kill you."

...

**To Be Continued...**

...

**Me and my cliffhangers... *sigh* anyway, important notice I have for yall revolving around this precious Fanfic of mine.**

**See I have this poll I set up awhile back which is going to be a onetime offer to the fans!**

**What that offer is you wonder?**

**See, I've recently decided to let you guys vote on which arc this story could start on as I'll get to explaining now by summarizing a little without spoiling too much.**

**Training Arc****: **

After the events of Shugimaru's attack, Dan, alongside a few others, embark on a mission to get to the one person they know who could help them train for the upcoming threat Shugimaru poses. As they arrive, they find none other than Marucho landing in front of the dojo, also seeking assistance from a legendary shinobi rumoured to be living in this area.

"I'm looking for a man named Anji Kazami, you wouldn't happen to know if he lives here, would you?"

**Rivalry Arc****: **

After the whole fiasco with Shugimaru blows over, Dan and Runo feel the need to prepare for whatever comes their way. The problem though, is that they don't know how.

The next day, they find themselves unexpectedly meeting up with a familiar blond haired genius that offers his help in an exchange for letting him study their ***Spoiler Alert***. A week later, a familiar Hotspot ninja pops into town and appears before the trio, claiming he was sent on a mission to find out more about a strange disturbance.

And thus a team of sorts, is formed.

"IWe're stuck with him?"

"It's not like I want to be around you people anyway."

"Stop try'na act cool!"

**Rebellion Arc****:**

A week after the conclusion of Shugimaru's attack, Dan finds himself hearing a voice in his head that tells him to set him free. This at first confuses him and he goes out to find help which is offered by his new neighbour, Choji Marukura.

The results of which lead to them spiralling into an unfamiliar world known as an Inner Sanctum.

"I don't care if you are a dragon! I'm getting out of here and back to my friends!"

**Now I know what some of you are wondering about and no I'm not making this as I go. I've actually got a decent Idea of where I want this story to be so believe me when I tell you that except for a few minor changes, all arcs will happen.**

**I'm just letting you all have the choice of which one you want to see first. **

**Happy Holidays! And remember to review!**

**Aero out.**


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